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IN THE DAYS OF 



^eott 



By 
TUDOR JENKS 

AUTHOR OF "IN THE DAYS OF CHAUCER," "IN THE 

DAYS OF SHAKESPEARE," " IN THE DAYS 

OF MILTON," ETC. 




New Tork 
A. S. BARNES & COMPANY 

M D C C C C VI 



UBRARY of congress! 
Two Copies Received 

APR 2 im 

Tj^Copyrififht Entry 
CLASS a^ xl(c.No. 
^COPY d. 



Copyright, 1906, by 
A. S. BARNES & COMPANY 



Published^ February, 1906 



PREFACE 

The days of Sir Walter Scott bring us 
so much nearer to our own time, that 
Chaucer and Shakespeare and Milton must 
have seemed to the author of "Waverley" 
as far removed from him as they seem re- 
mote from ourselves. It is not easy to keep 
the past in true perspective. We think of 
our Revolutionary days as long gone by, 
and of Scott as modern, without reflecting 
that Scott was but a little child when the 
New England farmers fired the shot heard 
round the world. 

The impression that the father of the 
historical novel lived not so very long ago 
is due partly to the fact that he is so much 
more modern than the days of Chivalry and 
of Border warfare about which he wrote, 

V 



Preface 

and partly to the wholesome and abounding 
vitality of this great Scotchman. 

Scott lived in a borderland that extended 
from the days of the eighteenth to the days 
of the nineteenth century ; and with him, in 
imagination, we cross from the reign of 
George III. to that of William IV., from 
the American Colonies to the presidency 
of Andrew Jackson. We see the last of old 
methods of life and the beginning of the 
era in which we still live; for during the 
years of Sir Walter Scott were made those 
discoveries and inventions which, developed 
and applied, have transformed the condi- 
tions of civilized life. Steam and electricity 
became man's docile servants in those years, 
and to these agencies primarily is due 
the amazing change that makes our outer 
world different from that into which Scott 
was born. 

As in the other books of this series it 
has been the purpose here to tell of the 
Influences and atmosphere of the author's 
life and to bring Scott into relation with the 

vi 



Preface 

general events that affected all men of his 
time. Thereby we may better remember 
amid what scenes and happenings the poet 
and novelist lived, and through a larger 
knowledge of Scott and of his relations to 
history and letters may be brought into 
closer sympathy with the magician and into 
fuller appreciation of his work. 

Tudor Jenks. 



VXl 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Page 

/. Scotland, Old and New . . i 
//. Surroundings During Earliest 

Years i6 

///. Boyhood in Kelso and Edin- 
burgh 36 

IF. Law Student and Advocate 55 

V. Begins Law and Literature 71 

VL His Marriage and First Lit- 
erary Work . . . . 87 

FIL Beginnings of Serious Poetic 

fVork 103 

FIIL The Home at Ashestiel . .116 

IX. The Most Popular of Poets 130 

X. Last of the Poems, and First 

of the Novels . . . .145 

XI. The Earlier Novels . . .159 

XII. The Laird of Abbots ford . 173 

XIIL The End of Prosperity . .190 

h 



Table of Contents 

Page 

XIV. The Last Years .... 207 
XV. His Continental Journey and 

Death at Abbotsford . 225 
XVI. Conclusion 240 

Appendix 

Chief Dates Relating to Scotfs 
Life and Works . . . .257 

The JVaverley Novels in Chron- 
ological Order . . • . .267 

A Brief Bibliography . . .268 

Index 271 



CHAPTER I 

SCOTLAND, OLD AND NEW. 

The period of the birth of Sir Walter 
Scott, in 1 77 1, was one when the whole 
state of his native land was undergoing a 
change so cornplete that it was like a resur- 
rection. In the early part of the eighteenth 
century, Scotland was in most essential 
things not unlike what England had been 
three or four hundred years earlier. It 
was a land where the customs and ways of 
the Middle Ages still existed. If an Eng- 
lishman of Chaucer's time could have been 
brought to life and placed in Scotland for 
the first half of the eighteenth century, in 
most respects the life of the people, that is, 
of the peasantry dwelling far from towns, 
was that to which the subject of Edward 

I 



In the Days of Scott . 

III. had been accustomed. There were the 
same poverty, the same small, miserable 
hovels, the same stunted animals, the same 
rude tools for cultivating the soil, similar 
food, and clothing little different from the 
rags worn so many centuries before. In 
fact, when reading books about these days 
in Scotland, there is need of the dates cited 
now and then in their pages to remind the 
reader that the figures 1300 are not meant 
instead of 1700. 

The food of the people in both cases was 
the wretched bits of grain they could save 
from the exactions of the landlords and 
tax-gatherers. The clothing was coarse, 
home-made woolen, shapeless, ill-fitting, 
and neither becoming nor suitable. Shoes 
and stockings, to many unknown, were by 
the few worn only as a holiday attire. The 
miserable hovels were in both cases warmed 
in winter only by bits of smouldering peat 
or small fires of odd sticks, the latter a 
rarity indeed in most parts of Scotland. 

Fields were unenclosed, and the cattle, if 

2 



Scotland, Old and New 

the poor beasts could be dignified by the 
name, wandered up and down the uneven 
ridges seeking subsistence from the scanty, 
weedy growth between the stones. The 
very methods of agriculture were the same 
as those of their remote ancestors. When- 
ever a task the least bit more onerous than 
usual was to be performed, it required the 
gathering of a dozen neighbors. Thus, in 
plowing land, a clumsy wooden plow was 
yoked, or rather harnessed, by twisted 
straw ropes, to six or eight pairs of bony 
cattle, and the clumsy machine driven ir- 
regularly over the rocky surface, attended 
by a shouting mob of bony peasants. 

There was no variety of food, the only 
crops generally sown being a poor kind of 
oats and barley. The times of sowing and 
reaping were regulated by superstition, or, 
rather, were left to the chance direction of 
old saws bequeathed by some village 
prophet of long ago. 

Roads did not exist, nor were there any 
vehicles to make them necessary. The 

3 



In the Days of Scott 

making of wheels was not understood, a 
sort of rough sledge, rolling on solid wood 
disks, being the nearest contrivance. We 
may see the same device pictured as in use 
by the early peasants at the time of Caesar's 
invasion. The town life was, of course, a 
little more civilized, but the most primitive 
frontier town of to-day contains more ap- 
pliances for the comfort and well-being of 
its people than could then be shown in a 
half-dozen Scottish cities combined, except, 
perhaps, in a few of the palaces belonging 
to travelled nobles. 

In examining a map of Great Britain, 
the reason for this stagnation of progress 
in the northern part of the country is evi- 
dent. Just as Spain and France have been 
separated by the Pyrenees, just as Switzer- 
land has been cut off by its mountain bound- 
aries from its neighbors and has become an 
independent republic, and as Tibet has re- 
mained almost the last country shut out 
from the knowledge of the Western world, 
so Scotland, separated from the lowlands 

4 



Scotlandj Old and New 

of England by the river Tweed, the Firth 
of Forth, and the mountain ranges which 
are encountered just as we enter the coun- 
try, was kept for centuries shut off from 
the civilizing intercourse with her neigh- 
bors that would have made her a sharer in 
the gifts that they enjoyed. 

The feudal system that gave rise to her 
social structure was kept alive by qualities 
in themselves praiseworthy. The Scotch 
have ever been brave, patient, loyal, re- 
ligious people, and to the same exactions 
that at length turned the French peasantry 
into a fierce mob to drive from their land 
the privileged classes, the Scotch not only 
submitted, but even gloried in the grandeur 
to maintain which they starved their fami- 
lies. The difference may lie in the mental 
constitution of the two races. The French 
were eminently practical, unspeculatlve, un- 
imaginative. When once convinced that 
the wrongs inflicted upon them had no sanc- 
tion in the nature of things, they were ruth- 
less in extirpating them. The Scotch, on 

5 



In the Days of Scott 

the contrary, were imaginative, credulous, 
and speculative. Their very miseries made 
them superstitious in their religion. They 
accepted their wrongs as a part of the mys- 
tery of the universe and bore with fortitude 
and without rancor the ills that seemed to 
them inherent in the nature of things. 

It was the eighteenth century that 
changed completely all the conditions which 
had kept alive the antiquated wrongs that 
made Scotland an anachronism — three 
hundred years behind her neighbor to the 
southward. Perhaps most important of all 
was the change in religion, which, begun 
earlier, did not have its full effect until 
about the middle of this century. All the 
religious discussion which had filled the 
literature of the land during the contro- 
versies between King and Parliament, 
Church and people, had tended to enlighten 
Presbyterian Scotland. The younger gen- 
eration, though still anything but free in 
thinking, were far less bigoted than their 
fathers. 

6 



Scotlandj Old and New 

Politically, the uprising of 1745 was the 
last struggle of the Jacobites. Backed by 
France, Charles Stuart came, believing that 
adherents of his house would flock to his 
standard. Although his reception was at 
first discouraging, he had at last found him- 
self at the head of an army which, if not 
large, was valiant and achieved wonders. 
After the victory at Preston, which began 
his campaign, the march to Edinburgh, the 
invasion of England, hardly undeceived 
him, though the country people remained 
uninterested spectators of his march. It 
was only after he had waited in vain for 
the appearance of any English Cavaliers 
that he was compelled to turn back, was 
defeated, and at last escaped to the Conti- 
nent, having served his country best by 
proving the Stuart cause was dead. 
Though some reprisals followed this raid 
into England, the course of the government 
was in general marked by such clemency 
that the union of the two countries was 
strengthened and all political parties came 

7 



In the Days of Scott 

to see that their best course was to support 
the House of Hanover. 

As for ^Trlnce Charlie," he died in 
exile, neglected, and almost forgotten, after 
a life that was for many years ignoble. 

The old chains of the feudal system were 
at this time struck from the limbs of the 
people, and though this was done because 
the clan-system had shown itself a ready 
means of fomenting strife, yet a few years 
proved, even to the Highlanders them- 
selves, that an institution which had been a 
valuable one in the days of isolation and 
inter-tribal quarrels, was now merely a 
means by which malevolent men could make 
mischief. 

With the removal of the barriers that 
had kept apart the northern and southern 
ends of the island, and had made travelling 
Englishmen and Scotchmen feel themselves 
in an enemy's country, with the ceasing of 
border raids, the construction of good 
roads, and the establishment of friendly 
traffic, prosperity and influence came rather 

8 



Scotlandj Old and New 

to the merchant and farmer than to the suc- 
cessful freebooter or soldier. 

England at this time had acquired large 
colonial possessions; she was at peace with 
her old enemies, Holland, France and 
Spain; she had driven the rivals of her sea- 
power from the ocean, or had made with 
them such compacts that she was left free 
to carry on trade where she found it most 
profitable. Young Scotchmen who found 
no careers open to them in their own land 
soon made places for themselves in the 
colonies, in British trade, or in the ranks of 
the King's service. 

In brief, the old fences between England 
and Scotland were down forever. The 
bogeys that had kept Scotland in bondage 
at home and had caused her to be despised 
abroad, were either laid to rest or were less 
regarded; and, perhaps most important of 
all, Scotchmen saw in England an example 
of prosperity which their keen intellects 
understood might be brought about within 
their own borders. 

9 



In the Days of Scott 

Among the most important improve- 
ments that were introduced were those in 
agriculture. Where Scotch laruds had been 
used for but one or two crops, where agri- 
cultural animals had been neglected and 
underfed — it being necessary in the spring 
to lift the emaciated cattle to their feet be- 
fore they were able to feed — English 
methods were copied, new vegetables intro- 
duced, better grain raised, and improved 
ways of farming adopted. It is said that 
when the Scotch cattle were first fed upon 
turnips they grew so big that the people 
refused for a time to eat such '^monsters." 
The little cottages with dirt floors, thatched 
roofs, no windows, and cru.de fireplaces, 
gave place to dwellings more like the com- 
fortable homes of English farmers. Upon 
the Clyde, merchants fostered ship-build- 
ing and were soon able to control the larger 
part of the commerce with the American 
colonies, particularly the importation of to- 
bacco, a trade that brought quick fortunes 
to many Glasgow tradesmen. 

ID 



Scotland, Old and New 

Accompanying the general prosperity 
came a quickened impulse in the intellectual 
life of Scotland. Minds trained by the se- 
vere methods of the Scotch universities ap- 
plied to practical affairs the same acute 
faculties that had been wasted in theological 
discussions. The Scotch imagination be- 
came inventive and constructive, and ap- 
plied its developed powers to the details 
of trade, commerce, and industry. Methods 
of manufacture were revolutionized by 
Scotch inventions. The steam-engine and 
the spinning-jenny are only the most notable 
of these. It was a Scotchman who sug- 
gested the establishment of the Bank of 
England; Scotchmen perfected life-insur- 
ance ; they brought to life again the science 
of political economy. In short, Scotch 
brains had needed only an opportunity, and 
the opportunity had come. 

All these changes involved the destruc- 
tion of the very frame-work of the old 
Scotch life. Together with the useless and 
the repulsive was destroyed much that was 

II 



In the Days of Scott 

picturesque and poetic. While the im- 
provements were welcomed by the newer 
generation, there were not wanting those 
who raised the inevitable lamentation over 
the good old times. Just as the days of 
suffering, of hardship, and of warfare make 
the best material for striking history and 
stirring ballads or sensational fiction, so th'e 
days when Scotland was still in the twilight 
of feudalism gave rise to her most romantic 
annals. As these conditions passed away 
from real life, as their asperities were soft- 
ened by distance and oblivion, so the minds 
of the romantic acquired a taste for the tra- 
ditions of Scotland's past. 

Sir Walter Scott was born not only upon 
the borderland between England and Scot- 
land, but the time of his birth lay almost in 
the borderland between modern and me- 
diaeval Scottish history. There were still 
living many from whose lips he could hear 
in all their vividness incidents of the old 
life. He was still near enough to the old 
days to read their stories or to hear the 

12 



Scotland^ Old and New 

songs of their ballad-singers with full sym- 
pathy and understanding, yet he was re- 
moved from the old times and in contact 
with the new, and thus fitted to act as inter- 
preter of one to the other. 

The Scotland of his day was not yet so 
changed that all memorials of the past had 
disappeared. There still stood here and 
there castles, abbeys, and fortresses, where- 
in the old-world dramas had been played. 
It was still possible, turning aside from the 
moxe civilized regions of his native land, to 
find himself amid localities where enough 
of old customs and old institutions remained 
to re-present the conditions of the earlier 
history. 

It would seem as if this great genius had 
been specially created to preserve for all 
time a memorial of the past in such form 
as to make the best of it immortal. To 
compare with Scott's poems and romances 
the chronicles and dry facts that underlie 
them is to see that his mind has chosen the 
wheat from the chaff, has transmitted to 



In the Days of Scott 

later times all that is pure and good and 
wholesome, while rejecting whatever made 
the old life miserable and degrading. 

Before Scott wrote, while there was po- 
litical union and actual peace between Scot- 
land and England, there still remained the 
embers of that hostility which years of 
strife had kept alive. A Scotchman in Lon- 
don, a Londoner in Edinburgh, was still an 
alien, holding himself aloof and feeling 
that he was in an atmosphere of critical re- 
serve, if not open hostility. It was Scott's 
work to open to the two races one another's 
hearts ; to show to the English the warmth 
of feeling that lay concealed behind Scotch 
brusqueness, or was held in check by Scotch 
reserve; to display the common humanity 
that was the same north or south of the 
Tweed; to gain for the oddities of his 
eccentric countrymen the sympathy that 
comes of understanding; to win for their 
ideals appreciation, and for their preju- 
dices respect. All this was done by Sir 
Walter ScQtt, not only through the works 

^4 



Scotland, Old and New 

of his pen, but also by means of his own de- 
lightful personality. He was a big-hearted, 
manly gentleman, and, above all things, he 
was a Scotchman, who won respect for him- 
self and for his race. 



IS, 



CHAPTER II 

SURROUNDINGS DURING EARLIEST YEARS 

In regarding the career of Sir Walter 
Scott, however much critics may differ as to 
the character and the value of what he did, 
or the relative worth of his prose and of his 
verse, there is one point on which all heart- 
ily agree. They ascribe to him above all 
authors, possibly excepting only Homer, 
the quality of health. Even Carlyle, who, 
in a long essay, is scrupulous in denying to 
Scott the epithet of **great," declares that 
in his possession of this attribute of health. 
Sir Walter has achieved a pre-eminence 
that is perhaps worth more to the world 
than greatness itself. 

And yet, this man who was to be looked 
upon ^§ the very embodiment of sane 

j6 



Earliest Years 

healthfulness, first saw the light amid sur- 
roundings so bad that they were, in all 
probability, the cause of the death of six 
other children of his father and mother, 
for six of them had died in infancy. Walter 
was the third son and ninth child. His 
parents were well-to-do, and that they lived 
in surroundings that now would hardly be 
tolerated in the lower tenement districts 
was due rather to the fashion or the 
ignorance of the times and the conditions 
that prevailed in Edinburgh than to any 
personal carelessness or any necessity com- 
ing from lack of means. 

Scott's father was a member of the bar, 
and in the minute divisions of that body he 
occupied a more than respectable place, 
being a Writer to the Signet, that is, a 
member of the bar corresponding to an 
English Solicitor. 

His mother, who had been Anne Ruther- 
ford, came of people who were, as the times 
went, both refined and educated. On both 
sides his ancestry was more than reputable, 

J7 



In the Bays of Scott 






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1 8 



Earliest Years 

for through his father he traced back his 
line to the Lords of Buccleuch. Sir Wal- 
ter's grandfather was a fairly prosperous 
farmer, who lived well, according to the 
times. His great-grandfather, Walter 
Scott, w^ent by the name of '^Beardie," 
owing to the fact that he had vowed he 
would never shave until the restoration of 
the Stuarts. Two generations back of 
**Beardie," we come to ''Auld Wat," whom 
we find in the very romantic land of Bor- 
der raids and fully established as a free- 
booter carrying on a thriving trade with 
the Lowlands, wherein he gave only blows 
in exchange for cattle. Auld Wat's wife 
was known as '^the Flower of Yarrow," 
being considered notable for her beauty. 
This lady is said to have found among some 
plunder, carried over the border, a child 
whom she brought up. The foundling be- 
came the composer of many noted ballads, 
and his verses made his preserver cele- 
brated. 

The reader should by no means miss 

19 



In the Days of Scott 

Ruskin's summary of Scott's ancestry in 
*Tors Clavigera," letter XXXL, which 
illustrates the family tree in Ruskin's in- 
imitable way. 

Of the times and ways suggested to us 
by these glances at the family tree it will be 
best to speak when Scott is sent into the 
scene of old Borderers' exploits. He began 
his life as a city-reared child. At the time 
of his birth his father and mother were 
living in what we should call an alley, a 
narrow, rather steep, dark and dreadfully 
dirty side lane, known as College Wynd. 
Theirs was a set of apartments on the third 
floor of a house at the top of the Wynd, 
projecting into New College street. 

Exactly how filthy streets of Edinburgh 
were in the early days one hardly dares 
tell, but their condition may easily be 
imagined when it is remembered that there 
was no way of disposing of household dirt 
and refuse of all sorts except by throwing 
it into the street and trusting to the rains 
to wash it away, or to the efforts of the in- 

20 



Earliest Years 

efficient scavengers who were supposed to 
go about every morning. This condition 
of affairs lasted all through the eighteenth 
century, and the old writers tell us how, 
after a warning cry from above, the filth 
was precipitated into the street from all 
the windows, at about ten o'clock at night. 
Queerly enough, the phrase of warning 
was French, originally ''Garde Teau!" cor- 
rupted by the Scotch tongue into ''Gardy 
loo!" If an unfortunate passenger was be- 
low, he was expected to give warning by 
the shout, ''Haud yer hand!" But the 
chroniclers agree that the deluge often 
came erq the warning could be given. In 
the larger streets, or, rather, in the large 
street — for virtually there was but one. 
High Street, running from Holyrood to the 
Castle — the condition of affairs was bad 
enough, but to picture the state of the nar- 
row wynds staggers the imagination, and 
leaves little surprise that the world should 
have been deprived of a half dozen possible 
novelists. It is only wonderful that amid 

21 



In the Days of Scott 

such surroundings a few sturdy infants 
managed to survive. 

The little Walter Scott ran some terrible 
risks. Born in 1771, on the 15th of August, 
the first danger he encountered was a con- 
sumptive nurse. Luckily, her condition was 
discovered before long; but about the time 
when his teething began the child was at- 
tacked by some mysterious malady, due, no 
doubt, to the filth surrounding him, and 
resulting, after a long illness, in a serious 
lameness that never left him. About the 
spring of 1773, it was decided that if the 
child's life was to be saved he must be sent 
into the country. 

We are not told how the journey was ac- 
coraplished, but it is not likely that there 
was more than one way. Both men and 
women in those days were compelled, ex- 
cept on a few of the best roads, to go on 
horseback, and we may imagine the two- 
year-old child being carried in the arms of 
a nurse, who rode upon a pillion behind a 
serving-man in the saddle. In this way he 

22 



Earliest Years 

made the journey along the rough and miry 
paths — for roads were few and only be- 
tween the largest towns — to the little ham- 
let of Sandyknowe, the house of his grand- 
father, the farmer. 

The farm was about sixty miles from 
Edinburgh. Most likely, the journey re- 
quired several days and was broken by lodg- 
ing at inns, which, we are told, 'Vere mis- 
erable in the extreme. In country towns 
they were mean hovels, with dirty rooms, 
dirty food, and dirty attendants. Servants 
wore neither shoes nor stockings, the tables 
were uncovered, guests used their own 
knives or their own fingers, drink was 
served in one tin cup, handed about from 
mouth to mouth. Nor were the inns of 
Edinburgh so very much better, though 
fairly clean." We can well believe that 
people in those days were reluctant to travel 
and seldom went from home without com- 
pelling cause. 

Nor in the house of a small farmer such 
as Robert Scott was the standard of com- 

23 



In the Days of Scott 

fort greatly improved, though undoubtedly 
the house was cleaner. We have a descrip- 
tion of a scene during Scott's visit there in 
which the sitting-room is described as '*a 
clean, clean parlor." The house was no 
more than a cottage with a thatched roof 
covering one story and an attic. 

The work upon the farm busied the 
whole household, and all were accustomed 
to gather, at night, around the fireside, 
when the women occupied themselves with 
spinning, while the men smoked and told 
their stories. The table arrangements were 
as primitive as it is possible to imagine. It 
was not many years before that each mem- 
ber of a farmer's household had his own 
horn spoon, which was often carried about 
with him or thrust in his bonnet. Few 
people of that time, certainly few country- 
men, had any idea of cleanliness according 
to modern standards, a favorite proverb 
being, ''The mair dirt, the less hurt." The 
dress of both men and women was simple 
and rude, coarse, home-made woolen being 

24 



Earliest Years 

the material. Shoes and stockings were un- 
known except for Sunday wear for the 
women. Not only were all their garments 
ragged, but, what was worse, they were 
seldom washed. Henry Gray Graham, 
from whose ^'Social Life of Scotland" these 
particulars are gathered, sums up by say- 
ing, '^Everything was poor, rough, and 
frugal." And, though times were improv- 
ing, not yet had all traces of the ruder days 
disappeared. 

In this simple farming cottage Scott tells 
us he first ''came to himself." It was this 
life his earliest memories recalled to him. 
From what. he has told us, we can under- 
stand that he was greatly petted by his 
grandmother and by his aunt, Janet Scott. 
This kindly woman became a second mother 
to him, looking sharply after his health and 
comfort, singing him to sleep at night, and 
giving him his first acquaintance with that 
folk-lore of Scotland which was to become 
his life-long study. The grandfather and 
grandmother also, as soon as he was able to 

25 



In the Days of Scott 

understand them, told him wild stories of 
the old days on the Border, of the forays 
into the Lowlands, of the exploits of cele- 
brated leaders, repeating to him legends 
and ballads and training his ear to love the 
rhythm of the old romantic verse. It was 
in this farmhouse that Scott learned his 
first poem, *'The Death of Hardyknute," 
which he knew by heart before he was able 
to read. This poem was from a volume 
by Allan Ramsay, ''The Tea-Table Mis- 
cellany," and the volume itself is in the 
library at Abbotsford, containing Scott's 
statement that it had belonged to his grand- 
father, and that from it he had learned 
the first poem he ever knew and ''the last 
he would ever forget." 

Not far away from the house stood an 
old stronghold, what is known as a "peel" 
in Scotland, called Sandyknowe Tower. 
W. S. Crockett, in his "Scott Country," 
declares "it is the most perfect relic of a 
feudal stronghold in the south of Scotland, 
and at the height of its power it must have 

26 



Earliest Years 

been well-nigh impregnable." Like most 
such strongholds, it is built on a rocky hill 
whose precipitous sides defend it. The 
walls are seven to nine feet thick, and the 
whole stronghold is sixty feet high. From 
the top of this old tower are visible a dozen 
localities identified with Scott's later life. 

Indoors and out, the earliest days of the 
little boy from Edinburgh were there 
passed in imagining the old scenes of strife 
which made everything about him roman- 
tic. Out of doors there were the shepherds 
and laborers to recount to him traditions of 
old forays and uprisings and Border fights. 
Within, when the family were gathered at 
the fireside, the same imaginative life was 
kept up and made vivid by readings from 
old ballads and by the folk-lore that came 
to him from the lips of his relatives. In 
the third canto of "Marmion" Scott has 
told of these things in his own inimitable 
way, and better than anyone else can do it. 

Save for brief visits to neighboring 
places, Scott spent his first three or four 

27 



In the Days of Scott 

years upon this farm, which he did not leave 
until after the death of his grandfather. 
William Howitt, in his '*Homes and 
Haunts of the British Poets," gives a strik- 
ing summary of the influences that formed 
Scott's earliest impressions during these 
days at his grandfather's little farm. The 
country itself gave him an outlook upon 
regions he was afterwards to people with 
the creations of his own fancy or with re- 
vived traditions of their past. From the 
top of Sandyknowe Tower were to be seen 
the stately homes of Scottish lairds, the old 
Abbey of Dryburgh, the mountains where 
Thomas the Rhymer met the Queen of 
Faerie, the round tower occupied by that 
seer himself, the Wilderness of Lammer- 
moor, Hume Castle, and Melrose Abbey. 
Not only was he thus made familiar with 
scenes wherein were to be played the mimic 
dramas he was to imagine, but in or about 
his grandfather's cottage he met with char- 
acters such as were thereafter to play their 
parts in his stories. Especially are men- 

28 



Earliest Years 

tioned a scholarly old clergyman, an old 
Scotch officer, and the aged herdsman, 
'*Sandy Ormistoun," who delighted to take 
the boy out upon the moor and to recount 
to him stories of the past. Here, every 
neighbor was full of reminiscences of the 
old Border chiefs or of the striking inci- 
dents that followed the uprising of 1745 
and the dire defeat of Prince Charles at 
Culloden. 

Although various rude experiments were 
tried to cure the child's lameness, the 
methods being characterized by the absurd- 
ities of the medical practice of the time, the 
lameness, as has been said, proved perma- 
nent, while the boy's health in every other 
respect was greatly improved. 

When Scott was four years of age his 
grandfather died, having been very old at 
the time of his grandson's coming to his 
house. Scott remembered the quaint scenes 
at the funeral, and speaks of the writing 
and sealing of the funeral letters and of 
watching the long procession that followed 

29 



In the Days of Scott 

the pall-bearers bearing his grandfather's 
coffin to the old churchyard. 

As it was believed that the mineral 
waters of Bath might have some effect in 
helping his lameness, the little boy was sent 
with his aunt upon that long journey. Re- 
turning to Edinburgh, they shipped aboard 
a small coasting vessel, a smack, and sailed 
to London, where it is stated that he saw 
the usual sights — ^Westminster Abbey and 
the Tower, Scott mentions — which made a 
vivid impression upon him. But even the 
precocious mind of Scott could have re- 
ceived little general impression of London 
at so early an age. 

From London he journeyed to Bath, 
where he remained for about a year, but 
without receiving any benefit from its 
waters so far as his lameness was concerned. 
In Scott's Autobiography (a fragment in- 
cluded in Lockhart's "Life") there are 
three points emphasized as remembered of 
this Bath visit: his first schooling at a 
*'dame's school," his absorbed interest in 

30 



Earliest Years 

a certain glorious toy-shop, and his unrea- 
soning fear of the statues that were carved 
on the front of a great church. A pleasure 
vividly remembered was his being taken 
out upon the downs in a carriage by the 
wife of the poet Home, celebrated as 
the author of '^Douglas." Scott's Uncle 
Robert also helped to make the visit pleas- 
ant. This period ended about the middle 
of 1775, so that Scott's departure from 
Bath and his return to Edinburgh must 
have been during the exciting days in Amer- 
ica when Revere was riding to give warn- 
ing of the approach of the British troops; 
when the battle of Lexington was convinc- 
ing the world that the war was to begin 
"right here"; when Ethan Allen was cap- 
turing Ticonderoga. It was during the 
same year that Daniel Boone, made his first 
entrance into the dark and bloody ground 
of Kentucky, and Franklin was appointed 
the first postmaster-general. It was during 
the visit to Bath that Scott first saw a play 
of Shakespeare's, "As You Like It" being 

31 



In the Days of Scott 

given while he was there. Scott records, 
in later years, that he was noisy during the 
performance, asking aloud during the quar- 
rel between the brothers, Orlando and Oli- 
ver, ^^A'ji't they brothers?" for up to this 
time he had seen no quarreling, being the 
petted child of a household of older people. 
He hints that after his return to Edinburgh 
the sight of a quarrel between brothers 
would not have surprised him. 

After August, 1775, he made a short 
visit to Edinburgh, but then returned for 
a time to Sandyknowe. 

During this second sojourn at his grand- 
father's farm, his uncle gave him a Shet- 
land pony, named '^Marion." Scott learned 
to ride the shaggy little animal, and was 
able to make even wider wanderings over 
the surrounding country. 

Some time after August, 1777, came a 
visit to the little town of Prestonpans, 
wherein he made the acquaintance of two 
men who gave him hints for characters 
drawn in the Waverley Novels. One of 

32 



Earliest Years 

these was the veteran soldier, Dalgetty, 
from whom he sketched some of the char- 
acteristics of the famous Dugald Dalgetty, 
of *'The Legend of Montrose," the charac- 
ter that so delighted Thackeray. The 
other was George Constable, whose traits 
appear in ''The Antiquary," for the char- 
acter of Jonathan Oldbuck was drawn from 
this friend. 

An amusing incident Scott records tells 
of his interest in Burgoyne's campaign in 
America. The old soldier evidently ex- 
pected Burgoyne to make a triumphal 
march southward, while the little boy be- 
lieved he would be defeated. News of the \ 
disastrous battle of Saratoga proved the 
young military critic to be in the right, 
much to the chagrin of the veteran. 

After Scott had returned to his father's 
house in George's Square, Edinburgh, and 
after some tutoring at home, he was sent 
to school, where he remained for three 
years, his teachers being Luke Fraser 
and, later, Alexander Adam, the rector of 

33 I 



In the Dnys of Scott 

the school. During these early school-days 
Scott seems to have paid little attention to 
the regular studies, saying that he, though 
'*an incorrigibly idle imp, was never a 
dunce." 

His lameness, though it still affected his 
gait, did not prevent his becoming famous 
as a climber, nor from taking part in the 
fighting with the town boys, for, as usual 
in such cases, there were fierce feuds be- 
tween the scholars of the High School and 
the boys of the town. 

Something of the boy's tastes may be 
argued from the fact that he became a fa- 
vorite with his teacher, Adam, who is said 
to have been well versed in romantic an- 
tiquities and to have found his little scholar 
keenly interested In the same sort of learn- 
ing. 

But these early days of schooling were 
brought to an end for a while by another 
attack of illness, making it necessary to 
send him once more into the country. His 
aunt Janet and his uncle Robert were now 

34 



Earliest Years 

living near Kelso, a picturesque, old-fash- 
ioned town, which Scott calls the most 
beautiful, if not the most romantic, village 
in Scotland, and here the pleasures he had 
found in the life at Sandyknowe were re- 
newed. 



z$ 



CHAPTER III 

BOYHOOD IN KELSO AND EDINBURGH 

It would be a very simple matter to 
summarize in a few brief paragraphs the 
general history of Scott's boyhood. His 
schooling was somewhat irregular until 
he reached the High School at Edinburgh, 
and, judging by his own account of those 
days, one would be inclined to attach little 
importance to his studies so far as they 
were carried on under his teachers, though 
his teacher at Kelso, Lancelot Whale, gave 
the boy a little of his enthusiasm for the 
Latin authors, and at least one of his Edin- 
burgh teachers succeeded in interesting him 
in the romantic side of the classics. 

But Scott's real schooling did not come 
at all from teachers. He had one of those 

36 



Kelso and Edinburgh 

minds that knows better what is its right- 
ful food than any teacher can decide for it. 

Although his lameness had resulted in 
giving him a limping gait, his long living in 
country air had made him grow fast and 
had built up his bodily strength. He was, 
in a sense, a leader among the boys upon the 
playground. Always cheerful, healthy- 
minded, and fond of romping, he attracted 
to himself the more boyish of his asso- 
ciates; and even those who ranked above 
him in the class-room could not regard him 
as stupid. He had developed a wonderful 
faculty for story-telling. His memory was 
most unusual, and after reading once or 
twice an old legend, or even a long rhymed 
ballad, he could reproduce the incidents, at 
least, and often the more striking stanzas 
of the poems. 

Besides this faculty, he was noted for his 
quickness of observation and for possessing 
a remarkable fund of out-of-the-way knowl- 
edge. Even in the class-room he would now 
and then prove himself able to answer ques- 

37 



In the Days of Scott 

tions far beyond the capacity of many who 
knew the regular lessons better than he. 
Whenever the teacher called upon his 
classes for general knowledge, Scott was 
likely to astonish the rest of the boys and to 
show at times a range of information ex- 
ceeding even that of the master himself. 

But as a preparation for his future 
career, -the most important hours of his boy- 
hood were those passed in rambling around 
the highways and byways of the old Border 
town or in poring over the books in his 
aunt's house or in the village library. 
Kelso was a picturesque town, so beautiful, 
it is said, that Robert Burns, upon viewing 
it from a commanding height, *^gazed upon 
it, reverently uncovering, and breathing a 
prayer of thanksgiving to the Almighty." 

Most striking of all its features was the 
Abbey, whose history extended back to the 
early years of the twelfth century. We may 
be sure that Scott became familiar with the 
long history of this old ruin that over- 
shadowed the town school. Thef grave- 

38 



Kelso and Edinburgh 

yard nearby was the boys' playground, and 
climbing the crumbling stones of the Abbey 
was one of the favorite amusements of the 
boys during their recesses. 

The monks who once lived here had 
busied themselves, after the fashion of their 
times, in every sort of skilful handiwork, 
and the establishment had grown stronger 
with passing years until at one time it pos- 
sessed over thirty churches, besides manor 
houses, broad lands, and feudal rights, ex- 
tending from Aberdeen southward nearly 
to Durham. Crockett, in his ^'The Scott 
Country," gives us a rapid view of the In- 
cidents In which the house figured. 

Lying upon the Border, it was nearly as 
often a fortress as a monastery, being be- 
sieged and defended now by one party and 
now by another, and gradually being re- 
duced to a mere ruin, a great, towering, 
square shell that overshadowed the little 
one-story school-house at Kelso. 

Almost as Interesting, historically, are 
the ruins of Roxburgh Castle, whose orig- 

39 



In the Days of Scott 

inal building was erected by the old Saxons 
upon a point of land just at the joining 
of the beautiful Tweed and Teviot rivers. 
King David L, the founder of Kelso Abbey, 
held court in Roxburgh Castle, '*the most 
famous, as it was by far the strongest, of 
the Border fortresses. In Scotland's early 
days these walls had witnessed all the pomp 
of royalty, had met the shock of war, had 
dominated the settlements which it over- 
looked." 

Perhaps the third most important feature 
of the town was Floors Castle, a magnifi- 
cent house that had been erected nearly 
sixty years before Scott's day. Scott de- 
scribed the mansion *Vith its terrace, its 
woods, and its extensive lawn" as '*a king- 
dom for Oberon or Titania to dwell in." 

Besides these memorials of the past, the 
old town had natural beauties so great that 
it is here the love of nature was first 
awakened to life in the future poet. That 
it abounded in traditions, legends, and Bor- 
der tales is certain, for of all the Border 

40 



Kelso and Edinburgh 

towns of Scotland this is true. Nor did it 
lack characters who spoke as eloquently of 
the past as did the old ruins themselves. 
To us, the most interesting of these is 
''Edie Ochiltree," the wandering beggar 
who has been immortalized in ''The Anti- 
quary." Scott often met him and has given 
us a life-like description of this shrewd tat- 
terdemalion. His name was Andrew Gem- 
mels, and his tombstone is in Roxburgh 
churchyard. 

Under a great tree in his aunt's garden, 
Scott first read Percy's "Reliques," the col- 
lection of ancient ballads that, by his own 
testimony, first made him a poet. He was 
enraptured with the book, and could not 
rest until he had saved enough to make it 
his own. Another book that strongly in- 
fluenced him at this time was Tasso's poem, 
''Jerusalem Delivered," and he also here 
became familiar with the works of the early 
English novelists. 

Among the influences strongly affecting 
him during his Kelso days must be men- 

41 



In the Days of Scott 

tioned also his friendship with Robert 
Waldie, a Quaker boy whose mother lived 
in Bridge Street, and owned a large library 
wherein Scott was allowed to rummage at 
will and from which he could carry home 
books that struck his fancy. A picture of 
this charming Quaker household is drawn 
in "Redgauntlet," in describing the home 
of '^Joshua Geddes" and his sister Rachel. 
Of the friendships made in Kelso the one 
that was to have the most influence upon 
Scott's future life was that with the Ballan- 
tynes, two brothers, sons of a merchant who 
kept a shop in the square. Scott tells us 
that he soon found out that James Ballan- 
tyne, who was about one year his senior, was 
as fond of listening to stories as the junior 
was of telling them; and they spent many 
afternoons wandering out upon the road 
that led to Sandyknowe, or upon the banks 
of the Tweed, reveling in the romances of 
old songs, ballads and legends. Ballan- 
tyne tells us that when Scott had finished 
the preparation of his lessons for the next 

42 



Kelso and Edinburgh 

day he would whisper, '^Come, slink over 
beside me, Jamie, and I will tell you a 
story." It was Ballantyne who, in later 
days, was to become Scott's printer, pub- 
lisher, and partner. But their Kelso friend- 
ship was very soon brought to an end, when 
Ballantyne went up to Edinburgh, where 
Scott was again to meet him. 

Scott's days at Kelso ended virtually in 
his thirteenth year, though he was to make 
a subsequent visit to the town. In Novem- 
ber of 1783 came his return to Edinburgh, 
where his father was living, in George's 
Square, but for some time after the return 
his school days continued. Instead, how- 
ever, of the long afternoons .spent in wan- 
dering by the River Tweed with James 
Ballantyne, we now find the schoolboy 
busied in out-of-school hours with the squab- 
bles that seem inevitable in town life, where 
youngsters of different social rank are 
brought in contact. These, as Scott him- 
self tells us in an appendix to ''Waverley," 
*Vere maintained with great vigor, with 

43 



In the Days of Scott 

stones and sticks and fisticuffs." The boys 
who dwelt in George's Square were orga- 
nized into a sort of a company, to which 
a lady of distinction presented a handsome 
set of colors, and engaged in constant war- 
fare with ^'hardy loons, chiefly of the lower 
rank, who threw stones to a hair's-breadth 
and were very rugged antagonists at close 
quarters." These quarrels often, by the 
coming of larger and larger crowds of boys, 
became very serious affairs, and older help- 
ers were sometimes drawn in on both sides. 
Scott tells a long story of a worthy 
champion among their enemies who was 
nicknamed "Green Breeks," who was 
struck senseless with a sword by one of 
Scott's own party. Whether either of the 
Scott brothers was responsible for strik- 
ing down this adversary is not plain from 
the story as Scott tells it, but at all events 
they were busied in trying to bribe him to 
keep silence about the blow, and his noble 
refusal to be bribed,, while he scorned to 
betray the criminal, so impressed Walter 

44 



Kelso and Edinburgh 

and his brother Thomas that long after- 
ward they had some thought of making 
**Green Breeks" the hero of a novel. No 
inquirer after the facts of Scott's boyhood 
should fail to read this interesting story, 
as it gives in very vivid form a picture of 
what must have been a most exciting part 
of his Edinburgh life. 

These fights were carried on during the 
summer, but winter also had its martial 
scenes among the boys of Edinburgh. One 
. of the old gates of the town was called 
Cowgate Port, and it was a favorite ex- 
ploit of Scott and his schoolfellows to 
gather at this narrow entrance, to defy the 
town guard, greeting them with a shower of 
snowballs when they attempted to dislodge 
the youthful garrison. In later years, 
when the gateway had been torn down, the 
novelist says, *'To recollect that I, however 
naturally disqualified, was one of these ju- 
venile dreadnaughts, is a sad reflection to 
one who cannot now step over a brook 
without assistance." 

45. 



In the Days of Scott 

As to the scholastic studies of this period, 
Scott shows the same dishke for the regular 
routine as before, declaring that he had 
resolved to forswear Latin and Greek be- 
cause he could not maintain a proper rank 
with his fellows in these studies; but it is 
a proof that he was not lacking in studious 
habits that he during these early years 
learned enough of Italian to read his fa- 
vorite, Tasso, in the original, and to ac- 
quaint himself with the chivalrous legends 
of Ariosto. He also learned quite a little 
of French and Spanish. 

Instead of his old listener, Ballantyne, 
he now had attracted another schoolfellow, 
John Irving, with whom he visited Salis- 
bury Crags and Arthur's Seat, the Braid 
Hills, and similar romantic spots in the 
outskirts of Edinburgh. Irving seems to 
have been able to tell tales as well as to 
listen to them, for Scott says: *'We told, 
each in turn, interminable tales of knight- 
errantry and battles and enchantments, 
which we continued from one day to an- 

46 



Kelso and Edinburgh 

other as opportunity offered, without our 
ever thinking of bringing them to a conclu- 
sion." 

But these pleasant wanderings were 
brought to an end by a severe illness which 
for several weeks confined Scott to his bed, 
^^during which time,'' he says, '^I was not 
allowed to speak above a whisper, to eat 
more than a spoonful or two of boiled rice, 
or to have more covering than one thin 
counterpane." 

To cheer this long confinement Scott 
reveled in the stories of the circulating li- 
brary, reading romances, plays, and poetry, 
and seeking in histories and more serious 
work similar stories to those he enjoyed in 
works of fiction. 

Again he was sent to Kelso, when able 
to travel, and at this time his stay w^s made 
the pleasanter because his uncle had bought 
there the pretty home then known as *^ Rose- 
bank," but now renamed '^Waverley Cot- 
tage," and still in existence, though some- 
what altered. 

47 



In the Days of Scott 

At about this time, he tells us, he tried his 
talents at painting and at music, and came 
to the conclusion he could never make a 
success in either art. He had, however, 
already composed three poems, which ap- 
pear among his collected works. The first 
is a description of Mt. Etna, written in 
1782, and preserved by his mother; the 
second and third describing respectively a 
thunderstorm and a sunset were written in 

1783. 

As far back as theSandyknowe days Scott 
had been collecting the old ballads that still 
remained in the memory of the country folk, 
and he never forgot to add to his collection 
whenever, from the lips of a lover of an- 
tiquity or from the pages from an old book, 
he could come upon bits of fossil poetry. 
In Kelso he had found a few, and in Edin- 
burgh Mrs. Irving, the mother of his 
friend John, was able to repeat many bal- 
lads to him by heart. But the young col- 
lector showed some discrimination, and was 
careful to add to his collection only such 



Kelso and Edinburgh 

as appealed to his taste. Another influence 
that turned him more decidedly to the study 
of early Scottish poetry was a then recently 
published volume, '*01d Ballads, Historical 
and Narrative,'' though he did not buy this 
collection until he was actually at work in 
acquiring the legal profession. 

We must not, in thinking of Scott as a 
student at Edinburgh University, imagine 
that the routine of this institution of learn- 
ing in any way resembled that of our Amer- 
ican colleges. The university of his day 
was little more than a series of lectures. 
Except while listening to the learned men 
who presented their views to the students, 
there was nothing to bind the students to- 
gether in any social life. They did not live 
in dormitories, and consequently had not 
that oneness of life and aim that would 
bind them together and give them loyalty to 
the institution. In the English universities 
the system of private tutoring brings about 
some personal acquaintance between stu- 
dent and instructor, but in the Scotch uni- 

49 



In the Days of Scott 

versity there was not even this contact 
between the faculty and those whom they 
taught. Consequently Scott's home life and 
his intimacies were neither interrupted nor 
greatly changed during the year and a half 
while he was attending lectures, and he had 
no such close connection with the institu- 
tion as identifies Milton with Cambridge. 
Nevertheless, tested by results, the 
Scotch training can hardly be said to be in- 
ferior to any other system. The list of 
distinguished graduates is too long to per- 
mit the undervaluing of the method of in- 
struction at Edinburgh University. A 
brief list of names will indicate how hon- 
orable a roll of graduates might be made 
up, for to Edinburgh must be credited 
Hume, the historian; Dugald Stewart, a 
most distinguished philosophical author; 
Boswell, greatest of biographers; John 
Wilson and Christopher Wilson; Lord 
Brougham, one of the most able of public 
men; Sir David Brewster, celebrated for 
his works on optics; Thomas Carlyle, 



Kelso and Edinburgh 

Charles Darwin, and, in our own days, 
Robert Louis Stevenson. 

The attendance on lectures at the univer- 
sity continued even beyond the period when 
it had been decided that Scott was to study 
law, and had been apprenticed to his father 
as a preparation for following the same 
career. Although the study of law required 
a painstaking plodding, yet it was not alto- 
gether distasteful. We have seen already 
how his fondness for antiquarian lore had 
led the young student to study the facts un- 
derlying the fictions in which he delighted. 
From legends he had gone to history, and 
it was but a further step in the same direc- 
tion when he turned his attention to the 
Illegal foundations upon which much of the 
M incidents of both romance and history are 
"dependent; for law is, after all, the bony y 

framework which supports the flesh of his- 
tory, and upon both depend the form and 
fashion which their outer garment, fiction, 
must take. 

It was a most fortunate preparation for 



11 



In the Days of Scott 

his literary career that he should have been 
taught habits of system, accuracy and or- 
derliness; and all these came to him as a 
result of his long training in the strict 
school of the Scottish legal education. Hud- 
son, in his *'Life of Scott," says forcibly: 
**In theory, the law everywhere bore remin- 
iscences and suggestions of the feudal past; 
while in practice it afforded a rare oppor- 
tunity for the study of many interesting, if 
not always admirable, aspects of human 
nature." 

Among other studies necessary to fit him- 
self for the bar was that of civil law, and 
a class at the university upon this subject 
was attended by Scott during 1788, and 
here he formed the acquaintance of Will- 
iam Clerk, who became an intimate much 
as Ballantyne and Irving had done, owing 
to a sympathy with Scott's antiquarian 
tastes. Through Clerk and other friends 
of his young manhood Scott now began 
to meet some of the literary society of the 
capital. In other words, he had ceased to 

52 



Kelso and Edinburgh 

be reckoned among the youths of the place, 
and was entering upon manhood. 

Perhaps the most marked incident of his 
later youth in Edinburgh is the well known 
meeting with Robert Burns, whom, how- 
jCver, Scott had once or twice seen before, 
in Sibbald's circulating library, Parliament 
Square, Edinburgh. The meeting was in 
the house of Adam Fergusson. Burns be- 
icame much interested in a pathetic picture 
iupon the walls. His attention was directed 
to Scott because the young man was the 
only one of the company who could give 
|the author of the lines under the engrav- 
ing. Burns' appreciation was shown by a 
kind word, which Scott never forgot. It 
is said that the words spoken by Burns to 
Scott were these : ''You will be a man yet," 
which, save for their source, do not seem 
especially striking. From Scott's descrip- 
jtion of the older poet one passage, at least 
must be quoted: ''The eye alone, I think, 
indicated the poetical character and tem- 
perament. It was large and of a dark cast, 

53 



In the Days of Scott 

and glowed — I say, literally glowed — 
when he spoke with feeling or interest. I 
never saw such another eye in the human 
head, though I have seen the most dis- 
tinguished men of my time." 



54 



CHAPTER IV 

LAW STUDENT AND ADVOCATE 

The years that covered Scott's boyhood 
were those between the beginning of the 
American Revolution and the adoption of 
the United States Constitution; his youth, 
in other words, coincided with that of our 
own nation, and he entered upon manhood 
just about the time that America took her 
place among the nations. He was just over 
six years old at the time of the hanging of 
Nathan Hale, and but a few months older 
when Washington crossed the Delaware. 
During his seventh year came the terrible 
winter at Valley Forge ; he was about nine 
when John Paul Jones was fighting off 
Flamborough Head, and when he was ten 
came Arnold's treason and the hanging of 

55 



In the Days of Scott 

Andre. The surrender of Yorktown came 
the next year, and Scott was about thir- 
teen when England recognized American 
independence by the Treaty of Paris. It 
was in the month after Scott's return to 
Edinburgh from Kelso that Washington 
made his farewell address to his officers at 
Fraunces' Tavern, New York. 

We shall understand something of the 
social progress of the time by remembering 
that in Scott's fourteenth year the first let- 
ters were despatched by mail coach in Eng- 
land, and the first trial of a lifeboat at sea 
took place. This boat was built by a Lon- 
don coach-builder, under the patronage of 
the Prince of Wales, afterward George IV., 
and it saved several lives in the first year 
of its use. But the officials of the govern- 
ment would have nothing to do with the 
new-fangled notion until five years after- 
ward, a terrible wreck where many lives 
were lost calling the attention of all Eng- 
land to the need of a boat that would live 
in the breakers. 



Law Student and Advocate 

About this time also there was great in* 
terest in that new scientific toy, the balloon, 
a novelty that often formed a topic of con^ 
versation among people interested in fore- 
casting the future, for the annals of the 
time contained notices of many ascensions. 

But far more important than these ex- 
periments were those made by James Watt, 
who had just about succeeded in lessening 
the great cost of the fuel burned to operate 
steam engines and in making them more ser- 
viceable. Even this great improvement did 
not make a market for the new machine 
that was within a few years to transform 
the industries of the world. In order to 
sell his engines, Watt was forced to offer 
them without price unless they would save 
their cost within a year's use. Nothing 
was to be more instrumental in putting to 
an end the old days so dear to Scott than 
the transformation of industry destined to 
follow upon the introduction of steam 
power; but at the time when Scott was just 
beginning his studies in his father's office 

57 



In the Days of Scott 

Watt was yet laboring to introduce his dis- 
trusted inventions to a few unwilling 
merchants. 

Some reference has already been made 
to the great improvements in cotton-spin- 
ning, but these, like the steam-engine and 
the balloon, were after all mere indications 
of an awakening scientific spirit that now 
first found scope. Intelligent men every- 
where were criticising, investigating and 
inventing. Inquiries were being made into 
many a conventional abuse, and people 
were beginning to think that perhaps they 
themselves were responsible for wrongs 
that in the old days had been accepted as 
inevitable or blamed upon bad rulers. John 
Howard, the philanthropist, about this time 
began visiting hospitals and prisons, and 
laying bare their deeds of darkness, their 
sins of neglect and omission; and with 
John Howard should be as honorably re- 
membered Dr. Willis, the first who treated 
lunatics with kindness. Vogue to this phy- 
sician's theories was given because he had 

58 



Law Student and Advocate 

been called in to treat George III. and had 
predicted his recovery from temporary 
insanity. 

Perhaps one can most briefly sum up the 
tendency of the time by saying that it was 
one of scientific progress, without pausing 
to call attention to such illustrations of 
practical advance as the building of canals, 
which made the conveyance of goods 
cheaper, safer, and more certain; the in- 
vention of tubular boilers, a most notable 
advance in safety and efficiency; the manu- 
facture of lace by machinery, the making of 
the Argand burner and the wonderfully in- 
genious Bramah locks; or, in the more theo- 
retical field, Priestley's discovery of oxy- 
gen, Cavendish's researches in electricity. 

We may fairly ascribe to about this pe- 
riod the first stirrings of that spirit which 
made the nineteenth century notable for the 
greatest material advances since historical 
records began. 

I do not know where to find In any brief 
form an article exhibiting the nature of the 

59 



In the Days of Scott 

forces at work during the years from 1750 
to 1800 better than Frederic Harrison's 
essay on *'The Eighteenth Century," in his 
volume, **The Choice of Books." So closely 
interwoven are his facts with the deductions 
from them that it is impossible to give any 
idea of the strength of his presentation by 
quoting brief passages. But if we wish to 
understand the nature of the time, to ap- 
preciate the spirit underlying the develop- 
ments that led to the most important events 
of the next hundred years, we shall find 
them eloquently set forth in Harrison's 
brilliant essay. Briefly put, the abolition 
of slavery showed more than anything else 
the spirit of that age, for this resulted from 
a new understanding of the worth of each 
individual man, from the recognition that 
each of us owes a duty to every other, and 
that governments must recognize the rights 
of the humblest under their sway. Up to 
that time it was hardly an exaggeration to 
say that the individual was nothing; since 
that time, if anything, the rights of the in- 

60 



JLaw Student and Advocate 

dividual have been regarded with too much 
solicitude. 

As an example of the far-reaching effects 
that have followed from this awakening of 
an interest In others' welfare, even In the 
breast of one man, few things are more 
striking than the results that followed upon 
the attempts of a poor man to teach a few 
neglected children some of the simplest 
truths of religion. Robert Ralkes was the 
son of a Gloucester printer and published a 
little newspaper. About 1780 he gathered 
together a few children and began to teach 
them on Sundays. Publishing some no- 
tices of his work, his accounts of it were 
copied into the London papers, and from 
this began that whole vast organization 
that to-day extends throughout the globe 
— the International Sunday-schools. The 
influence of these institutions In spreading 
an intelligent view of everything relating 
to religion and to church organization can 
hardly be overestimated, and all can be 
traced to Robert Ralkes' interest in the 

61 



In the Days of Scott 

children of Kis neighbors in Gloucester. 
This is merely another instance of the stu- 
pendous growth of an idea when planted 
in proper soil, and is an indication of the 
general philanthropic spirit that was so 
widespread in Scott's youth. 

The whole modern science of political 
economy, of which all organized philan- 
thropy may be considered an outgrowth, 
began with the writings of Adam Smith, 
a Scotchman who died in Edinburgh in the 
summer of 1790, and who was a friend of 
Hume, Hugh Blair, Reynolds, Garrick, and 
Dr. Johnson. Although for a time in Lon- 
don, the last twelve years of his life were 
passed in Edinburgh, where Scott may 
often have seen him. It is not unlikely that 
the novel theories set forth in his book, 
''The Wealth of Nations," may have been 
discussed in the several debating societies 
of which Scott was a member. Much as 
the students of our own day meet in their 
fraternities and Greek-letter societies, the 
young men of this time were accustomed to 

62 



liaw Student and Advocate 

get together to exercise themselves In de- 
bate, writing and speechmaking. To sev- 
eral of these organizations Scott belonged, 
and though he did not distinguish himself 
particularly in debate, here, as in his old 
school days, his wide general knowledge, 
and particularly his close acquaintance with 
the past, marked him out as exceptional. 

The most noted of these clubs was called 
*'The Speculative Society," and consisted 
chiefly of members of the bar or law stu- 
dents. In this club Scott seems to have 
been especially active, serving at first as 
librarian and afterwards as secretary and 
treasurer. From the pen of one of the 
members, Francis Jeffrey, two years Scott's 
junior, and then a student at the bar, we 
have an account of one of the meetings 
where Scott presented himself with his head 
swathed in a great night-cap. This head- 
gear was excused on the plea of a severe 
toothache. 

During the evening Scott read an essay 
upon ballads which was so unusual that 

63 



In the Days of Scott 

Jeffrey begged an introduction to the au- 
thor. This young man Jeffrey, after a bril- 
liant career at the bar, made an even more 
distinguished name for himself as editor 
and critic in the influential pages of the 
Edinburgh Review. The value of these 
societies to Walter Scott was very great, 
as he ascribed to them the beginning of his 
acquaintance with the most intelligent 
young men of his time, and he also believed 
that he gained greatly in self-confidence 
from the opportunity of measuring himself 
with others. 

It must not be supposed, however, that 
these days of training for the bar were 
given up entirely to the writing of essays, 
the copying of legal documents, and ab- 
struse studies. Drinking was far more com- 
mon than now, and the young man of the 
time often indulged in suppers and roister- 
ing at the taverns. Scott was a hail-fellow- 
well-met with the rest, though his old com- 
panions have borne witness that he was re- 
garded as the most temperate among them, 

64 



Law Student and Advocate 

and declared that many a bickering among 
them was made right by his intervention, 
for his quiet, good sense rendered him an 
excellent peacemaker. 

There was also at this time no cessation 
of the country wanderings that were so 
great a delight to Scott, as a lover of na- 
ture and an observer of mankind. Scott's 
lameness at first threatened to interfere 
with his partaking in his friends' ramblings, 
but rather than lose his company it was 
agreed to adopt a pace which their slightly 
crippled companion could support. Often 
these outings lasted more than a day, and 
at times Walter was absent from home 
more than a week. 

There is recorded a little dialogue be- 
tween him and his father, in which the son 
remarked, *'I only wish I had been as good 
a player on the flute as poor George Prim- 
rose, in the *Vicar of Wakefield.' If I had 
his art I should like nothing better than 
to tramp like him from cottage to cottage 
Qver the world." '*I greatly doubt, sir," 

65 



In the Days of Scott 

was the father's reply, '*you were born for 
nae better than a gangrel scrapegut," 
which in English is ^'wandering fiddler." 

But lest this humorous remark may be 
taken seriously, it must be said that the 
legal studies were neither light nor neg- 
lected. Scott's industry was always remark- 
able. Together with his friend William 
Clerk he read faithfully in the law books, 
rising early enough to reach before seven 
o'clock his friend's house, which was two 
miles distant ; and, notwithstanding the late 
suppers, the rambles in the country, and 
the law studies, Scott's own tastes led him 
to undergo an enormous amount of miscel- 
laneous reading and book-browsing. 

From Lockhart's 'Xife of Scott" we 
learn that two of the young student's note- 
books kept during this time are filled with 
proofs of his interests in a dozen literary 
subjects. In these books are extracts from 
favorite authors, bits of conversation he 
wished to remember, copies of favorite 
poems, notes of old legal cases that seemed 

66 



Law Student and Advocate 

to him to contain especially interesting epi- 
sodes, and odd items that can be classed 
under no other head than general knowl- 
edge — bits of etymology from Ducange's 
^'Medieval Latin Dictionary," notes upon 
what is now known as folk-lore, lists of old 
ballads, and even transcriptions of antique 
alphabets, such as the Runic. 

It was four years before Scott's admis- 
sion to the bar that the English Parliament 
began to debate the question of abolition 
of slavery, and the formal abolition, though 
it was to be gradual, was voted just about 
as he was admitted to the bar. But the 
state of public sentiment was such that the 
agitation, once started, was certain to bring 
about what the abolitionists and their 
friends had been laboring for for so many 
years. 

The sympathy with personal liberty had 
shown itself especially by a keen interest 
throughout England in the efforts of the 
French people to rid themselves of the rel- 
ics of medieval tyranny. The grave ques- 

67 



In the Days of Scott 

tions which had long been pressing for set- 
tlement were at last brought to a crisis, in 
1788-9, by the financial state of the French 
kingdom. Failing to raise revenue by any 
other means, the king was forced to bring 
together the legislative assembly, the 
^'States General." This body of men were 
compelled to array themselves against the 
king and upper classes just as Parliament 
had been forced to take up arms against 
King Charles I. 

Naturally, every move in their struggle 
was watched with intense interest by all 
educated men in England, and their sym- 
pathy was with the people until they were 
shocked and terrified by the excesses of the 
revolutionists a year or two later. London 
had its Revolutionary Society that sent con- 
gratulations to the national assembly of 
Paris, and in July of 1790 an English no- 
bleman gave a dinner of six hundred covers 
at a tavern in the Strand in celebration of 
the French Revolution. At the same time, 
in Birmingham, there were riots directed 

68 



Law Student and Advocate 

against those liberal Englishmen who 
seemed to favor the French rebellion 
against authority, and the seriousness of the 
outbreak is shown by the fact that a mob 
burned the house of the learned Dr. Priest- 
ley because of his liberal sympathies. 

Among the minor events of the time 
must be recorded the celebrated mutiny 
upon the ship ^^Bounty," though the hap- 
penings which gave it its great importance 
were unknown to the world for nearly a 
generation later. Owing, it is believed, 
partly to the bad management and uncom- 
promising temper of Captain Bligh his men 
mutinied and set their officers adrift, after- 
ward taking possession of the ship and sail- 
ing away to parts unknown. Some of the 
men were captured and executed, and it was 
believed that the rest had perished. Noth- 
ing was heard of them for many a long 
year, but, as was later discovered, a few 
of them had succeeded in carrying some 
native women to an unknown islet in the 
Pacific ocean, and here terrible quarrels re- 

69 



In the Days of Scott 

suited in the death of all but one of the 
sailors. Left alone with the natives, he 
had been horrified into a complete reforma- 
tion of his character, and had begun to 
teach and instruct the little community that, 
except for him, was sure to relapse into 
barbarism. But all this was not to be known 
until a much later date. 

The impeachment of Warren Hastings 
and the death of the Pretender, In France, 
indicated the end of one long series of 
events and the beginning of another hardly 
less momentous. 



70 



CHAPTER V 

BEGINS LAW AND LITERATURE 

If we could have been present in Pro- 
fessor Fergusson's house during the party 
which saw the meeting between Burns and 
Scott we should undoubtedly have been 
greatly amused by the quaint costumes 
there worn. 

Scott himself was dressed somewhat like 
the modern boys at Eton, in a short, round- 
about jacket and broad, white collar, and 
tight trousers ending at the ankle. 

Burns would be less conspicuous for dif- 
ference from the standard of to-day, but 
certain peculiarities in the cut of his coat, 
such as the very heavy roll of the collar 
and the breadth of the lapels, and the 
height to which the collar rose in the back, 

71 



In the Days of Scott 

would strike us as quaint, to say the least. 
The waistcoat, lighter in color than the 
coat, is much shown because the outer gar- 
ment is cut like a modern dress-coat. A 
pair of light-colored breeches and top boots 
would complete a costume suggestive of the 
typical figure known as *'John Bull." Other 
gentlemen of the party, if we may trust the 
drawing which represents the scene, wore 
knee-breeches, silk stockings and low 
pumps, and upon their heads were mounted 
the familiar white tie-wigs with little rolls 
of curls above the ears. 

The ladies of the party were chiefly dif- 
ferent in their attire from those of our own 
day by wearing gowns much looser and 
more voluminous, and because of their caps 
of lawn. 

But Scott's time is not so far distant that 
we need to be continually reminding the 
reader of these differences in minor mat- 
ters between his days and our own. His 
own novels have helped us by the creation 
of figures that still live in our minds to 

72 



Begins Law and Literature 

picture to ourselves the young men who 
were his companions during his earlier legal 
studies and after he became an advocate. 
When he had completed his studies under 
his father — an apprenticeship of five years 
— he entered upon a still further course, 
with the purpose of being admitted an ad- 
vocate, behind which determination we may 
suspect a romantic motive, for these were 
the days of Scott's first love affair. 

Coming one day from Greyfairs church, 
it is said that he escorted home Miss Will- 
iamina Stuart Belsches. This young lady 
was the daiighter of a woman who had been 
a friend of Scott's mother in earlier days, 
and her father was an acquaintance of 
Scott's father, being an advocate at the bar, 
a grade slightly higher than that of Writer 
to the Signet. 

It may have been with some idea of ap- 
proaching nearer to this family in social 
position that Scott resolved himself to be 
admitted as an advocate. It is difficult for 
an American to understand the importance 

73 



In the Days of Scott 

given to the minor ranks of the nobility at 
that time. The young lady's grandmother 
was a countess, which practically means 
little more than that she had a landed estate 
in Scotland. But this tincture of noble blood 
it may have been that wrecked Scott's hopes 
of winning his first love. Different views 
of his romance are presented in the biog- 
raphies ; but it is difficult to avoid the con- 
clusion that, after giving young Scott some 
encouragement, at least enough to assure his 
faithful service for five or six years, Will- 
iamina made a marriage which she con- 
sidered more ambitious than would have 
been an alliance with the penniless young 
advocate. For a long period, at least, Scott 
could not look upon his love as hopeless, 
and he desired to gain advancement in life 
by working faithfully at his legal career. 

Before the culmination of this romance, 
however, there was ample evidence that 
even so strong a motive could not entirely 
withdraw Scott's attention from those sub- 
jects which won his heart In 1792, while 

74 



Begins Law and Literature 

he was devoting himself faithfully to his 
duties as a lawyer, being in constant attend- 
ance at the Parliament House, where the 
courts met, there is plenty to show that he 
had not changed in character. His con- 
temporaries at the bar recall him as en- 
tertaining the throng of young lawyers with 
the same sort of romantic stories that had 
formerly delighted his school companions. 
He seemed overflowing with the lore of the 
country. Whatever the topic of conversa- 
tion, Scott was always ready with some old- 
time story, some historic incident, or some 
apposite legend from the richly stored 
treasure-house of his memory. 

When the court sittings were over in the 
autumn Scott felt free to follow his own 
tastes. He was irresistibly attracted into 
continuing the same studies of the past that 
had busied him in his boyhood at Small- 
holme and at Kelso. It was in this year, 
1792, that he began a series of expeditions 
into the border country, Liddesdale. Just 
as when a boy he had delighted to ride 

75 



In the Days of Scott 

abroad upon his pony in the neighborhood 
of Sandyknowe, and to listen to the tales of 
the peasantry, so as a young advocate he 
made wider expeditions upon horseback 
into those Border regions that had but a 
few years before been the scene of bloody 
raids, fierce skirmishes, and countless ro- 
mantic adventures. For seven years every 
autumn saw his incursion into these regions 
so rich in memorials of the old stirring 
times. Usually with but a single compan- 
ion, he rode about the countryside, lodging 
wherever night overtook them, collecting 
fragments of ballads, bits of tradition and 
occasional relics. The small hamlets which 
thus became familiar to him may be said to 
be a contemporary past, for although the 
union with England had so greatly changed 
the commercial life of Scotland and entirely 
recreated urban society, it was long after 
his time that this influence could extend far 
beyond the areas strongly influenced by city 
life. 

Critics who have closely studied the ma- 

76 



Begins Law and Literature 

terial used in the Waverley Novels have 
pointed out how he has interwoven into 
their fabric the experiences gained during 
these raids intoLiddesdale, for they brought 
him not only wide knowledge of noted 
buildings, storied localities, and the condi- 
tions of country life, but also made him 
thoroughly familiar with the peculiarities 
of dialect, quaint traits of character, and 
the odd personalities who still survived to 
show the character of the old dwellers upon 
the border. From Lockhart's "Life" Car- 
lyle quotes a general description of the 
countryside covered by Scott's wanderings. 
It IS said no wheeled vehicle was upon 
the roads until five or six years after Scott's 
first visit. No inn or public house existed, 
travelers being compelled to lodge at one 
time in the lonely hut of a shepherd, at an- 
other in the more pretentious, though some- 
times hardly more comfortable, minister's 
manse. As usual in such regions, there was 
abundant hospitality, oftenest expressed in 
pressing invitations to drink. Illicit dis* 

11 



In the Days of Scott 

tilling was very common at the time, and 
the houses of the peasantry had little to 
offer to strangers except the home-brewed 
whisky. 

Scott's companion, who was an official of 
Roxburgh, gives a most attractive picture 
of Scott's warm-hearted affability to all 
they met. This seemed condescension, ac- 
cording to the ideas of the time, for an 
Edinburgh advocate was no small per- 
sonage in the rural districts. 

It is doubtful whether the collecting of 
old ballads, songs, tunes and relics was due 
to a conscious purpose of making use 
of them for literary purposes. Possibly, 
by Scott himself, these country excursions 
were considered as no more than vacation 
rambles, and it was merely his delight in 
eld ballads that made him eager to gather 
up whatever would make the days of old 
a more vivid reality in his mind. 

While Scott was thus delving into the 
past some of his literary contemporaries 
were equally busied with the events of the 

78 



Begins Law and Literature 

present and with wild dreams of the future ; 
1792 to 1795 saw the most bloody scenes 
of the French Revolution. Wordsworth, 
who was at Cambridge, had hastened to 
France, where he lived for a year, forming 
friendships with the French group of re- 
formers known as the Girondists. Cole- 
ridge also, believing that mankind was at 
the dawn of a new era, was engaged in plan- 
ning an ideal community that should arise in 
the new world. Southey was so affected by 
the new French liberalism as to tincture his 
writings with most inflammatory opinions. 
But Scott, with his shrewd common sense, 
was not led to any essential change in his 
political opinions. It may be that his ab- 
sorption in the hopeless pursuit of his un- 
attainable lady-love prevented him from in- 
dulging in Utopian dreams for mankind. 

Together with law, love, and legend, 
Scott about this time was devoting himself 
to the acquisition of the German language. 
Before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, to 
which Scott belonged, it happened that 

79 



In the Days of Scott 

Henry Mackenzie, a well-known author, 
chiefly remembered now for his book, "The 
Man of Feeling,'* read an interesting paper 
upon the '^German Theatre." In England 
it was a period when both poets and novel- 
ists were formal and lacked feeling, 
whereas in Germany romanticism, with all 
Its life, vigor and attractiveness to the 
young, was in full career. From Macken- 
zie's lecture Scott was led to such an in- 
terest in the German literature that he was 
one of those who soon after formed a class 
to study the language. Though the new- 
born enthusiasm of many of the class soon 
died, Scott's thoroughness stood him in 
good stead, for he persevered until he had 
at last a fair reading acquaintance with 
German and was thus able to appreciate 
the writers of the new school. In 1794 
or a little later the celebrated Mrs. Bar- 
bauld read to some friends, while visiting 
in Edinburgh, a translation of the German 
ballad "Lenore." 

Scott wa§ not there, but learning that the 
80 



Begins Law and Literature 

ballad had been greatly admired, after 
some difficulty secured a copy of the origi- 
nal, and found it so delightful, particularly 
by reason of a striking refrain, that he sat 
up an entire night to translate it into his 
own stirring verse. This poem was printed 
by a friend in order that it might be pre- 
sented in proper form to Scott's lady-love. 
This was the origin of Scott's first serious 
attempt to revive the old ballad poetry, and 
therefore the real beginning of his literary 
career. 

Thus, indirectly we may trace the entry 
of Scott into the world of letters to his at- 
tachment for Miss Belsches, who, by the 
way, is usually called Miss Stuart, for the 
reason that her family added that name to 
their own. It is said of her that she seemed 
peculiarly attractive to men of talent and 
genius, though she was only in her girlhood 
during Scott's courtship, being married at 
the age of twenty in January, 1797. Her 
miniature gives us no clew to the fascina- 
tion she seemed to exert over so many of 

81 



In the Days of Scott 

her friends, and, indeed, her power is 
ascribed to that mysterious quality often 
called by the name of *'charm." What she 
seemed to Scott himself may be gathered 
from his description of her, for in depict- 
ing the heroine of his poem, ^'Rokeby," 
It is known that he had in mind Miss Stu- 
art. Much of Scott's description is de- 
voted to her person, and ^e can divine the 
reason for the charm she exerted only from 
those lines in which he represents her as 
vivacious and changeable in mood, so that 
at one time she was gay and by a quick 
transition became at another serenely 
grave. \t is easy to understand how a 
young lady so appreciative and sympathetic, 
however, delighted the more genial and less 
excitable nature of the young advocate. He 
is described as being at the time eminently 
handsome, tall, of good figure and pres- 
ence, with fresh, brilliant complexion, 
bright, intelligent eyes, and a smile that 
gained one's sympathy at once. 

Both were deeply interested In the literal 



Begins Law and Literature 

ture of their day, and discussed many ques- 
tions in their correspondence. At last 
Scott seems to have declared himself to her 
in a long letter, and to have received from 
her a reply, of which he says that it was 
read with ^^admiration of her generosity 
and candor." But she certainly was un- 
willing either to give him an absolute re- 
fusal or to allow their friendship to be 
changed to any closer relation. 

Not very long after this interchange of 
letters Scott went to visit Sir John Stuart 
at'his home in the country, and during this 
time he was made finally to understand that 
his love was hopeless. 

The disappointment was one from which 
Scott never recovered, and he seems to have 
sought consolation by making during the 
next two years several excursions into the 
country. 

The Waverley Novels, although they 
deal with almost every grade of human 
emotion, have been found by some critics to 
be lacking in that very element which is or- 

83 



In the Days of Scott 

dinarily regarded as the most popular and 
most available of all motives for stories of 
romance, namely, passionate love. It is not 
meant that this motive is entirely wanting, 
but, taking all Scott's novels together, it 
may certainly be said that he gives less 
prominence to love than would be expected 
from so voluminous and versatile a writer. 
He writes of it without enthusiasm. 

If this be true, the nature of his own love 
affair with Miss Stuart no doubt is to 
blame. After so bitter a disappointment, 
and after an experience so painful that it 
left a wound from which he never recov- 
ered, it is very natural that Scott should 
have dreaded to dwell at length upon fic- 
titious situations that must have revived the 
memory of his own early suffering. Too 
sane and wholesome in his nature to be- 
come morbid, yet there was left in his soul 
a lifelong reluctance to dwell upon a theme 
that never ceased to be painful. Even his 
marriage, which was a happy one, did not 
entirely efface from his heart the image of 

84 



Begins Law and Literature 

his first love nor cure the grief caused by 
her refusal of him. 

Miss Stuart's defenders have claimed 
that she never felt more than a strong 
friendship for Scott, and that her whole 
heart was given to Sir William Forbes, to 
whom she was married, and with whom cer- 
tainly she led a happy and devoted married 
life. If, however, it was ambition that led 
her to refuse Scott, her reflections when 
Scott by the publication of ^'Marmion,'' 
had made himself famous, must have been 
anything but satisfactory. 

Besides his excursions into the country., 
there fortunately happened to be, during 
these bitter days, another absorbing inter- 
est to help Scott bear his troubles. In 1797 
all England was apprehensive of a French 
invasion, and after the usual m.anner of the 
land whenever such danger threatens, every- 
body began to discuss the formation of a 
capable militia. Scott's patriotic soul was 
roused, and he threw himself eagerly into 
the organization of a body of voluntary 

8s 



In the Days of Scott 

cavalry, even offering to sell his collection 
of old coins to help defray expenses. Know- 
ing what this sacrifice meant to his anti- 
quarian spirit, we can appreciate how great 
the crisis seemed to him and how eager he 
was to lend all aid to his imperiled country. 
A memorial of this brief excitement exists 
in the miniature painted at the time, show- 
ing Scott in uniform. This miniature por- 
trait reminds one strongly of the portraits 
of the generals of our Revolutionary War. 
In fact, it might, at a cursory glance, be 
taken for an early portrait of George 
Washington. There is the same high, 
gold-embroidered collar, the same white 
wig, smooth-shaven face and lace tie that 
is so familiar to us in the Revolutionary 
uniform, though, of course, this represents 
a date fourteen years later. 



86 



CHAPTER VI 

HIS MARRIAGE AND FIRST LITERARY WORK 

In order that we may realize how well- 
founded was the widespread fear of the 
French invasion we must remember that 
during Scott's long and hopeless courtship 
Napoleon Bonaparte was beginning the ca- 
reer that was to make him in a few 
years virtually dictator of Europe. So long 
as the campaigns of the French wer€ con- 
fined to the Continent, England's share in 
the wars was limited to the financial back- 
ing of the smaller powers in their struggle 
against the rapid expansion of the French 
frontiers and the extension of French domi- 
nation. 

But by 1796-7 France had so far pre- 
vailed over her continental enemies that, 

87 



In the Days of Scott 

by an alliance with Spain and Holland, she 
was contemplating even the subjugating of 
England, As usual, Ireland was selected 
as the most disaffected portion, and a 
scheme was devised having for its object 
the landing of twenty thousand men in the 
island. 

The first enterprise came to naught be- 
cause of a great storm, which scattered the 
enemy's fleet and strewed the shores of Ban- 
try Bay with wrecks. A second attempt 
was projected, and this time it was planned 
that the Spanish and French fleets com- 
bined should hold England's navy in check, 
making an opportunity for the Dutch to 
land an invading force in Ireland, as before. 

This was the threat that so alarmed all 
classes in England, and led to hundreds of 
organizations similar to that in whose 
equipment Scott was so interested. There 
is no question that the danger was very 
real and very great. That it was averted 
without calling into the field the cavalry- 
men of which Scott was quartermaster was, 

88 



First Literary Work 

perhaps, due to Commodore Nelson's re- 
fusal to see the signal of recall that would 
have prevented him from dashing into the 
enemy's battle-line. At all events, the battle 
of St. Vincent restored the supremacy of 
the sea to the English fleet and made the 
feared invasion impossible. 

But it was these historic events that 
caused the stay-at-home Scotch advocate to 
assume the uniform of a quartermaster of 
dragoons. These victories were also most 
valuable to England in restoring the morale 
of her fleet, which had been seriously 
threatened by two great mutinies, one at 
Spithead and the other at the Nore. 

The disaffection among the sailors, ow- 
ing to poor food and bad treatment, was 
so great that at one time the English ad- 
miral, Duncan, who had been stationed at 
the mouth of the Texel to prevent the 
emerging of the Dutch expedition, found 
himself with but his own vessel to compose 
the fleet. Had the Dutch suspected that 
he was alone all would have been lost, but 

89 



In the Days of Scott 

the ingenious Scotch admiral, in accordance 
with Richelieu's maxim, eked out the scant 
lion's skin with that of the fox, making 
shrewdness compensate the lack of force. 
He kept his signal-men busy hoisting and 
lowering flags all day, as if making signals 
to a large fleet, thus causing the Dutch to 
regard him only as one of the great fleet 
of ships concealed behind the horizon. 
Later in the campaign, when he was for- 
tunate enough to be once more in command 
of his fleet, he defeated the Dutch in a 
great sea fight off Camperdown, for which 
victory he was raised to the dignity of 
baron and viscount of Great Britain, becom- 
ing Baron Camperdown and Viscount 
Duncan. 

But several months before this victory 
all danger that Scott's services would be re- 
quired must have passed, since we find him 
making a visit to the English lakes. 

While he was out riding early one morn- 
ing he was suddenly passed by a young 
lady, also on horseback, who was riding at 

90 



First Literary Work 

great :peed. This was the first sight of her 
who was to become Lady Scott. The same 
evening he met her at a party, took her to 
supper, and must have been greatly at- 
tracted, for, instead of leaving the lakes the 
next morning as he had intended, he re- 
mained to seek a longer acquain^'ance, and 
ended by winning her hand. 

This young girl was the daughter of 
French parents. Her mother had run away 
from Paris with the Marquis of Down- 
shire, and M. Charpentier, or Carpenter, 
instead of pursuing his wife, had contented 
himself with forwarding to her care their 
two children. Lord Downshire had pro- 
vided a governess for the young girl, and 
with this governess she was traveling at the 
lakes when Scott met her. 

Within three months from the date of 
their engagement the couple were married. 
Their marriage took place on the day be- 
fore Christmas, in 1797, and was cele- 
brated in the cathedral church of Carlisle. 
That the wedding was a quiet one we may 

91 



In the Days of Scott 

be sure, since we are told that on the same 
day the young couple departed on top of a 
coach for io8 George Street, Edinburgh, 
where they settled down in small lodgings 
for a while. But it was not very long be- 
fore they removed to a house of their own, 
what is queerly called a ''self-contained" 
house, in South Castle Street. 

Although during the years that had 
elapsed from his admission to the bar to 
his marriage Scott had very faithfully at- 
tended to his duties as an advocate, yet it 
was continually becoming more evident to 
himself and his friends that he was not 
likely to attain distinction at the bar, nor 
to find law a congenial profession. Though, 
as we have seen, Scott was always hail- 
fellow-well-met with all classes, yet he was 
in certain respects very sensitive, and sev- 
eral happenings during his practice seem 
to have made a most unpleasant impression 
upon him and to have given him a dislike 
for the active duties of an advocate. 

In James Hay's ''Life of Scott" a few 
92 



First Literary Work 

incidents illustrative of his experience at 
the Scotch bar are told in such a way as to 
show of how little importance were the 
cases brought to him and how unpleasant 
were the experiences which their trial in- 
volved. In two instances where he ap- 
peared in defence of criminals it is stated 
that his fees amounted to a hare and a bit 
of advice informing him what was the best 
protection against burglars ! Most impor- 
tant of his cases was that of a clergyman 
who had been accused of drunkenness and 
immorality. In this case Scott was unfor- 
tunate enough to offend the dignity of the 
General Assembly of the Church of Scot- 
land, before whom he was pleading. To 
quote from Hay: "Instantly the leader of 
the House rose, sternly called Scott to order 
and administered a severe rebuke. The 
House cheered. That cheer was the death- 
knell to the professional career of Scott." 

Nevertheless, the young advocate gradu- 
ally secured a practice that brought him 
about two hundred pounds a year, and this, 

93 



In the Days of Scott 

with his wife's jointure of five hundred 
pounds annually, gave him a little compe- 
tence which enabled him to devote his leis- 
ure with some peace of mind to writing. 

In 1799 he secured the appointment of 
Sheriff of Selkirkshire, which was really 
equivalent to giving up the more active 
practice of his profession. Scott himself 
says in his preface to Waverley that he 
''assumed the character of a follower of 
literature for several years before he seri- 
ously thought of attempting a work of 
imagination in prose, although one or two 
of my poetical attempts did not differ from 
romances otherwise than being written in 
verse." 

That his first essay in writing took the 
ballad form may be ascribed to a number of 
influences, primarily to his admiration for 
Percy's ''Reliques," the volume that had 
been such a revelation to him in his boy- 
hood. Scott's sympathy with the old ballad 
poetry had come about naturally enough 
from the wonder tales he had listened to at 

94 



First Literary Work 

Sandyknowe, the many scraps of old bal- 
lads he had collected during his seven years' 
''raiding" into Liddesdale, and from his 
ancestral sympathy with the personages 
whose exploits were celebrated in old 
ballads. 

About the time of his marriage he had 
produced a translation of Goethe's "Goetz 
von Berlichingen." The actual beginning 
of his professional authorship was in a 
pretty little cottage on the outskirts of Lass- 
wade, a village a few miles from Edin- 
burgh. The cottage still stands, and even 
Its old thatched roof has been preserved 
in order that it may present the same ap- 
pearance as when occupied by Scott during 
the summers for six years after his 
marriage. 

Readers of Scott will not need to be told 
that this village is the original of "Gander- 
cleugh," described in the preface to the 
*Tales of My Landlord." Scott's study 
in his cottage is said to have been a cheer- 
ful room, with a circular window looking 

95 



In the Days of Scott 

out on a little meadow. This translation 
was the first real publication from his pen 
under his own name. 

In 1798 Scott's friend, Erskine, being 
in London, happened to show to Matthew 
Gregory Lewis his friend's translation of 
"Lenore" and 'The Wild Huntsman,'* 
which had been published in 1796 without 
the name of the translator. Lewis was 
then much celebrated as the author of a 
romance called 'The Monk,^' a wildly ro- 
mantic and melodramatic novel which had 
found its inspiration in the new romanti- 
cism of Goethe and Schiller. 

Lewis was then collecting material for 
a volume to be entitled 'Tales of Wonder," 
and was very glad to avail himself of 
Scott's assistance in the preparation of that 
work. Lewis, coming to Edinburgh, in- 
vited Scott to dine with him, and the co- 
operation was arranged. Although the 
book did not appear for several years, yet 
Scott prepared for it a number of his earlier 
poems and translations, and learned much 

9^ 



First Literary Work 

from the severe criticisms of Lewis upon his 
rhymes and rhythm. 

It was through Lewis's intervention that 
"Goetz von Berlichingen" was published, 
and it is believed that Scott's study of this 
medieval drama convinced him of the possi- 
bility of making use of the large stores 
of legends which he had accumulated. 

In the autumn of 1799 Scott visited 
Kelso, and found there his old school- 
fellow, James Ballantyne, who had given 
up the law and was now issuing a news- 
paper. In order to keep his types busy, 
Scott made the suggestion that Ballantyne 
might print a number of his ballads and 
translations, which, as specimens of his 
work, might be shown to the Edinburgh 
publishers ; and from this proposal grew an- 
other, which was that Scott should furnish 
the material for a little volume to be 
brought out by Ballantyne. Scott's words 
]| . were: **I have been for years collecting old 
Border ballads, and I think I could, with 
little trouble, put together such a selection 

97 



In the Days of Scott 

of them as might make a neat little vol- 
ume to sell for four or five shillings. I will 
talk with some of the booksellers about it 
when I go to Edinburgh, and if the thing 
comes on you shall be the printer." This 
was the enterprise that was to result in 
^'Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," 
though the volumes did not appear for sev- 
eral years after the proposal. 

The country round about the village of 
Lasswade, like that in the neighborhood of 
Kelso, was rich in those memorials of the 
past that gave Scott such infinite delight. 
As he praised Kelso, so he speaks almost 
as warmly of the River Esk, near which 
Lasswade lies. Perhaps speaking with the 
extravagance of affection, he said: *'No 
stream in Scotland can boast such a varied 
succession of the most interesting objects 
as well as of the most romantic and beau- 
tiful scenery." 

In a little valley hardly more than a mile 
away is Hawthornden, the birthplace of 
the poet who is best remembered as "Drum- 

98 



First Literary Work 

mond of Hawthornden," and in the beau- 
tiful house which stands there he spent the 
greater part of his life in writing poetry 
and making mechanical experiments. His 
death is said to have been caused by ex- 
cessive grief over the death of Charles I. 

Drummond had been a most prominent 
figure more than a century before Scott was 
born, and the house, once visited by Ben 
Jonson, still stood, though it had been en- 
larged and altered about a score of years 
later when Jonson made his visit. His 
verse has to a modern ear a very modern 
note — a love of nature for its own sake that 
IS not lost amid his classical embellishments. 
His language has much of the felicity of 
Robert Herrick. It would be difficult to 
match In delicacy such lines as these, with 
which he begins his poem entitled, quaintly, 
^'Change Should Breed Change." 

*^Now doth the sun appear. 

The mountains' snows decay. 
Crown' d with frail flowers forth comes the baby year. 
My soul, time posts away. ' * 

LOFC. 99, 



In the Days of Scott 

Napier, in his **Homes and Haunts of 
Scott," quotes Dorothy Wordsworth's de- 
scription of the upper part of the valley 
between Hawthornden and Roslin, which 
Scott called *^one of the few remnants of 
the olden time on which our great cham- 
pion of the Scottish Church (John Knox) 
did not exercise his peculiar plans of re- 
formation." The interior of the chapel is 
thought to have been the original of En- 
gaddi, as described in '*The Talisman." 
Upon a legend of this chapel is founded 
*The Dirge of Rosabelle," in 'The Lay 
of the Last Minstrel." The superstition 
was that on the night preceding the death 
of one of the earls this chapel was illumi- 
nated by an unearthly fire. 

Among the numerous contributors whose 
work was collected by Scott in order to 
make up the three volumes published by 
Ballantyne, '^Minstrelsy of the Border," 
was Dr. John Leyden, whose friendship 
with Scott is associated with the River Esk. 
Thi$ man, though the son of a Border shep- 

100 



First Literary Work 

herd, became a minister, a doctor, a judge, 
and a professor of Oriental languages. 
Among his poems, that entitled '^Scenes of 
Infancy" Is said by Napier to have been 
written in great part at Lasswade cottage. 
Leyden was four years younger than Scott, 
and after being educated at Edinburgh 
University became a preacher. In 1803 
he sailed for India, where he remained un- 
til his death. He is said to have known 
thirty-four languages and dialects. In his 
"Scenes of Infancy" he speaks as follows 
of these days with Scott: 

**The wildwood roams by Esk's romantic shore. 
The circled hearth which ne'er was wont to fail 
In cheerful joke or legendary tale. 
Thy mind, whose fearless frankness none could 

move. 
Thy friendship, like an elder brother's love. 
When years combine with distance let me be 
By all forgot, remembered yet by thee." 

Leyden must have awakened a warm 
friendship in Scott, for it is said that after 
his friend's death Scott could never speak 

lOI 



In the Days of Scott 

of him without evident emotion. The poet 
inserted a reference to this lost companion 
in the *'Lord of the Isles." There is some- 
thing odd in the last sentence of the inscrip- 
tion upon his tombstone in Batavia: 'Tew 
have passed through this life with fewer 
vices or with a greater prospect of happi- 
ness in the next." 






102 



1 



CHAPTER VII 

BEGINNINGS OF SERIOUS POETIC WORK 

Scott was now entering upon his thir- 
tieth year. He had already made himself 
known to many as a tireless collector of 
the old legends and traditions, but in the 
publication of '^Minstrelsy of the Scottish 
Border" he had proved that he was not 
alone collecting these because of a senti- 
mental interest in the survivals of Scot- 
land's past. He had shown that his inter- 
est in them was that of a literary man. His 
editing of the ballads was done, in a way, 
after the model set him by Bishop Percy 
in his '^Reliques," but he had vastly im- 
proved upon Percy's method in more than 
one respect. The Bishop had never scrupled 
to restore missing fragments of the ancient 

103 



r.n the Days of Scott 

Utej-gvcure by compositions of his own, but 
^j|.faough his work in this respect had been 
j^narvelously well done, Scott proved to be 
even more skilful in that he clung more 
closely to his originals and devoted unwea- 
ried care to restoring the ancient text be- 
fore adding any lines of his own, thus show- 
ing an attitude more truly antiquarian to- 
ward the relics. 

Scott's taste in the rendition of the old 
ballads was also shown by the exercise of 
a very wise discretion in regard to the form 
of the words. With the utmost nicety he 
selected the truly antique from the merely 
Ignorant. But even more important than 
his direct editorial work was the wealth of 
note and comment that accompanied the 
text and bore witness to the unexhausted 
learning at his command. 

In his introductory preface he touched 
upon so many topics, referred to so many 
old stories, and showed so wide an acquaint- 
ance with the traditions of his native 
land, that it has since been said by critics 

104 



Serious Poetic Work 

that the preface alone contained the 
essential elements of a hundred historical 
romances. 

When in later years speculation was rife 
as to the authorship of ''Waverley," ''Chris- 
topher North," as Professor Wilson of 
Edinburgh called himself, referred to this 
preface as being sufficient proof that no 
one but Scott could have commanded the 
knowledge necessary for the construction of 
the novels. 

Although Scott was Inclined to think the 
reception of his volumes by Ballantyne was 
not satisfactory, yet they brought him about 
five hundred dollars within six months, and 
thereafter he was enabled to sell the copy- 
right for as much more. 

By the death of Scott's father In 1799, 
and, within a few years afterward, of his 
uncle, he had Inherited a fair Income, 
which, added to the amount brought him 
by his wife's settlement, gave him an In- 
come of one thousand pounds a year. 

The opening of the nineteenth century 
105 



In the Days of Scott 

found Scott a married man with one daugh- 
ter, a few months old. He was still prac- 
ticing law, but without any strong interest 
in the profession, and with the conviction 
that there was no eminence for him in the 
calling. 

He regarded his literary pursuits as little 
more than recreation, though one would 
suppose he could not have been ignorant of 
the intense interest which he took in this 
work as compared with the sense of duty 
that was his only inspiration to legal study. 
He was still living at Edinburgh, except for 
his summer retirement to the cottage at 
Lasswade. 

It seems to bring the time closer to us 
to know that in these days, as in our own, 
there was a dispute as to just when the cen- 
tury ended, and that then the same de- 
cision was reached as was given in our own 
day, namely, that the century was com- 
pleted at the conclusion of the last day of 
the year denoted by the century number and 
the two ciphers. In Scott's time the ques- 

io6 



'Serious Poetic Work • 

tion had been left to the celebrated astrono- 
mer, Joseph Lalande, director of the Paris 
Observatory. 

In literature, this last year of the century 
was notable for the death of the poet Cow- 
per and of Dr. Blair, who had been for 
many years a professor of belles-lettres in 
Edinburgh University and also a prominent 
preacher in the same city. The birth of 
Macaulay was on the twenty-fifth of Oc- 
tober of the same year. 

In English politics the most prominent 
feature of the first few years of the nine- 
teenth century was the union with Ireland, 
which gave rise to many questions, par- 
ticularly in regard to Roman Catholicism. 
There had been attempts in the latter part 
of the last century to heal the divisions 
that had separated Protestants and Catho- 
lics, and these attempts had been made 
more helpful because of the liberal opinions 
that were brought out during the discus- 
sions following upon the revolutionary hap- 
penings in France. But it soon proved that, 

107 



In the Days of Scott 

although the better educated classes on 
both sides of the controversy might have 
been brought together, the peasantry were 
intractable. For this there were many 
causes, but perhaps the most important was 
the indignation felt by the Irish Catholic 
peasantry because they were taxed to pay 
tithes to a Protestant clergy. Outbreaks 
of violence were common, and upon both 
sides organizations were formed to resist 
aggression. 

It was hoped by the Irish rebels against 
the government that they would receive aid 
from France. Bonaparte, who had made 
himself First Consul, had now come to re- 
gard England as his greatest enemy, and 
was seeking in every way to diminish her 
power. His schemes for invasion had 
failed, and he had not been successful in 
his attempts to found an empire in the East 
that would checkmate the efforts of Eng- 
land to control India. Bonaparte's Egyp- 
tian campaign, despite the battles he had 
won, had been rendered futile by the vic- 

io8 



Serious Poetic Work 

tory of Nelson in the Battle of the Nile; 
and although the French did their best to 
foment rebellion against the English au- 
thority in India, the natives were again de- 
feated by the English troops. 

Ireland was looked upon by the French 
as a field in which they might stir up in- 
ternal dissension against the English gov- 
ernment. In 1798 there was a serious in- 
surrection, and many atrocities were com- 
mitted, but the rebels were defeated at the 
Battle of Vinegar Hill, and within a month 
or two a small French force that had landed 
during the same year was captured, and 
English authority was re-established in 
Ireland. 

Lord Cornwallis was appointed Lord 
Lieutenant, and being a wise and just mag- 
istrate, was soon able to show England that 
there could be no lasting tranquillity except- 
ing by the permanent union of the two 
countries under one government. By means 
of methods that cannot be too closely ex- 
amined, the Irish Parliament was brought 

109 



In the Days of Scott 

to vote for the Act of Union, and with the 
beginning of the century both countries 
were legally under the control of the im- 
perial legislature. 

A change in the royal coat-of-arms made 
in this year is significant. The royal lilies 
of France, which had for hundreds of years 
been borne in the quartering of the shield 
to indicate the claim of the English sov- 
ereign to the throne of France, were now 
removed, as they had become an empty 
relic of the past. 

From 1800 to 1804 we must regard 
Scott as a poet, but as yet he had not 
brought out any work that gave him na- 
tional reputation. We have already briefly 
spoken of the body of volunteer cavalry of 
which Scott was serving as quartermaster. 
Strangely enough, it was indirectly due to 
his connection with the militia that Scott 
was led to begin the composition of the 
poem that was to decide him to enter upon 
his literary career. 

The Countess of Dalkeith was regarded 
no 



Serious Poetic Work 

by Scott as the head of his clan. She was 
a young and beautiful woman who shared 
Scott's interest in the ballads and legends 
of her native land. At her suggestion 
Scott began a poem upon a subject which 
had caught her fancy — the doings of a cer- 
tain supernatural imp known as ''Gilpin 
Horner." But he had made no great prog- 
ress with his verse until, during a drill upon 
the Portobello sands, he was thrown from 
his horse and so injured as to be confined 
to his room for several days. During this 
leisure he amused himself by writing, and 
in a short time had completed the first canto 
of the poem that subsequently became ''The 
Lay of the Last Minstrel." His most im- 
portant literary work up to this time had 
been done more to please others than for 
his own satisfaction. The "Border Mins- 
trelsy" was the result of a wish to aid his 
old schoolmate, James Ballantyne. 

During the first five or six years of the 
nineteenth century Scott continued to live in 
his city home at Edinburgh, removing, 

III 



In the Days of Scott 

much as people do nowadays, in the sum- 
mer to the cottage at Lasswade, whenever 
the courts were not sitting and he was left 
free to go into the country. 

Outside of his profession, to which he 
was conscientious enough to devote quite as 
much time as did those to whom it was 
more attractive or their only interest In life, 
Scott was giving up more and more of his 
leisure time to the composition of short 
poems, the editing of his collection of bal- 
lads, and other similar work. 

While the productions of this period 
every now and then show evidence of the 
power he was one day to display, they were 
not so striking as to give any hint that he 
was to influence deeply the poetical fashions 
of his day. To tell the truth, Scott had not 
yet come under any strong influence that 
would commit him to any vocation. Ap- 
parently, he had decided that he was not 
likely to attain distinction at the bar, but 
his literary work was not yet looked upon 
as more than a convenient way tg earn 

112 



Serious Poetic Work 

small sums of money in addition to his pro- 
fessional income. 

Besides law and letters, Scott was deeply 
interested in the work of providing a militia 
to repel the French invasion, in case a land- 
ing should be made upon the shores of Ire- 
land or of England itself. 

It was a time of much distress and dis- 
sension among the Irish, for the English 
government was perfecting the union of the 
legislatures of England and Ireland, and 
among the Irish people there was a strong 
division of opinion as to whether this was 
desirable, involving, as usual, most acri- 
monious and bitter quarreling between 
Protestants and Roman Catholics. Al- 
though the worst outbreaks in Ireland had 
taken place before the beginning of the cen- 
tury, it was to be many years before the 
population was at all reconciled to the new 
state of affairs. 

Naturally enough, Napoleon, who was in 
absolute control of the French, looked upon 
these internal dissensions in England as 

"a 



In the Days of Scott 

giving an opportunity to excite rebellion, 
thus weakening the hand of England in 
Europe. So far as Scott was concerned, 
while he held strong views in political mat- 
ters, he seems to have been affected by the 
antagonism between England and France 
only to the extent of deeming it his duty to 
serve as an efficient officer in the Scotch 
militia. 

The danger of invasion from France 
soon ceased to be considered pressing. The 
victories of Nelson, having caused Napo- 
leon to abandon the design of setting up a 
government in Egypt, as a threat to the ex- 
tension of British empire in India, all fur- 
ther attempts to harass England or her 
possessions were brought to an end when 
Nelson destroyed the French fleet, leaving 
Napoleon to abandon his army and escape 
in a single vessel from Egypt. 

Besides this downfall of any direct at- 
tempt to proceed against England, affairs 
in France had now taken such a turn that 
those who had seen in the French Revolu- 

114 



Serious Poetic Work 

tion a danger to all existing institutions, 
were now reassured by discovering that the 
government of Bonaparte was able to keep 
in check the more radical elements of the 
French people. It was seen, as Green re- 
marks in his history, that although France 
had greatly expanded, she was not attain- 
ing a disproportionate share of power in 
Europe, her extension of territory being no 
more than was necessary to keep a proper 
balance of power among the European 
states. 

All this tended to lessen the fierce ani- 
mosity and the unusual fear with which the 
conservative or tory elements among the 
English had regarded the downfall of the 
French monarchy. 



"5 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE HOME AT ASHESTIEL 

It is interesting to reflect that the agen- 
cies which were really to transform in great 
part the civilization of that time were en- 
tirely unrecognized. While politicians were 
exciting themselves over the question of the 
union with Ireland, over the radical legis- 
lation of the French Republic, and the 
daring speculations of the French philoso- 
phers and their followers in other lands, 
believing that these movements threatened 
to recreate society, to upturn ancient insti- 
tutions and to supplant them by new, there 
was no suspicion that the real revolutionary 
movements of the time were beginning in 
the quiet laboratories and workshops about 
which none knew except a few interested in 
all scientific development. 

Ii6 



The Home at Ashestiel 

In these early years of the century began 
the development of the Voltaic pile. In 
this little apparatus, where two metals were 
acted upon by an acid, producing a con- 
tinuous current of electricity, was the germ 
of the modern electric science. After one 
hundred years of development which have 
given us the storage battery, we cannot yet 
foretell to what extent this new source of 
power will one day change the features of 
our daily life; but we do know that the 
changes due to the growth of electric 
science are already of far more importance 
to mankind than any short-lived legislation 
that during the early years of the French 
Republic shocked mankind. 

In 1 80 1 the Roman Catholic religion 
had been re-established in France, although 
but a few years had passed since the decree 
abolishing all religious institutions. 

An invention quite as important as the 
Voltaic pile was made in 1803. A French 
weaver by the name of Jacquard was 
brought before Napoleon at the request of 

117 



In the Days of Scott 

the First Consul himself, to receive the 
thanks of the republic for an epoch-making 
invention, that which is still known by the 
name of the Jacquard loom. Too compli- 
cated to be really understood without dia- 
grams, it may be briefly described as a loom 
that weaves patterns from the simplest de- 
signs to the most complicated, and is con- 

• 

trolled by a long line of cards with holes in 
them. As these cards are drawn through 
the loom, the holes permit only certain 
threads to be raised during the passing of 
the shuttle. The result is that after a pat- 
tern has once been prepared upon the cards, 
it can be at any time woven upon the loom. 
The inventor, Jacquard, was a poor 
weaver, but his marvellous loom has given 
him world-wide fame. 

It was a time of great advance in the 
arts, and not only in speculative fields of 
pure theory, but in practical applications to 
daily life. To this time may be traced the 
beginnings of nearly all those improve- 
ments in the useful arts that made the cen- 

Ii8 



The Home at Ashestiel 

tury so great an advance upon all that had 
preceded it. 

Up to this period, paper-making had 
been a long, slow, and laborious process. 
The pulp, after being reduced to the right 
consistency, had been dipped out of vats, 
and allowed to dry on sieves that gave only 
a single sheet. Machinery was now made 
that greatly hastened and improved the 
process, if it could not improve the quality 
of the product. Only those who understand 
how close is the relation between the cost 
of paper and the extension of learning will 
appreciate how much was meant by this 
enormous improvement. It at once became 
possible to increase the output of books and 
newspapers, and to place the means of edu- 
cation in the hands of thousands. Knowl- 
edge became widespread, and thousands of 
men whose talents might have remained un- 
developed were brought out of obscurity 
and contributed largely to the world's wel- 
fare. 

While knowledge was thus increasing, 
119 



In the Days of Scott 

another improvement gave mankind time 
for learning. It was but a few years be- 
fore that illuminating gas had been discov- 
ered, and though a gradual improvement 
went on, it was slow. But when it became 
possible to produce a steady light at a rea- 
sonable price, it was as if the length of 
the working day had suddenly been greatly 
increased. Among the earliest to adopt the 
new light was James Watt, who used it in 
his factory. The development of steam 
power and its application to boats also be- 
longs to these busy and progressive years. 
And we may see in the use of war balloons 
at the battle of Fleurus, in France, a visible 
attempt toward taking possession of the 
upper air. 

The opening of the Surrey railroad in 
1802 may be cited as showing how the con- 
quest of earth, air and sea was being at- 
tempted almost simultaneously. 

In Scott's own life, the years from 1800 
to 1805 may be characterized by the state- 
ment that they saw the completion of the 

120 



The Home at Ashestiel 

^'Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border" and 
the beginning of '*The Lay of the Last 
Minstrel." But besides these more im- 
portant works, Scott busied himself with a 
number of miscellaneous contributions to 
the Edinburgh Review. This periodical, 
originally started under the editorship of 
Sidney Smith, was eminently a critical jour- 
nal, its very motto showing that its pur- 
pose was to hold the whip over presump- 
tuous authors. It was natural that in a time 
when thought felt itself free from the bonds 
of convention, scholars should believe it 
necessary to act as censors over literary 
work. For this magazine Scott contrib- 
uted during this period, showing consider- 
able versatility in the choice of his subjects. 
In public affairs an event of the first im- 
portance and one closely connected with the 
state of feeling between France and Eng- 
land was the selling by Napoleon of the 
great French tract, Louisiana, in America, 
that enormous territory since known in 
American history as the Louisiana Pur- 

121 



In the Days of Scott 

chase. The money received was meant to 
equip a great expedition against England, 
and upon this renewal of threatened inva- 
sion the war fever in England was again 
kindled and over three hundred and 
seventy-five thousand volunteers were en- 
rolled. 

Naturally, so much interest in military 
matters resulted in at least one improve- 
ment in weapons, the invention of the per- 
cussion lock, for up to this time it must be 
remembered the old flint-lock firearms were 
in universal use. 

Among public events of this year which 
must have deeply interested Scott are the 
death of Burns and of the poet Cowper. 
And in his domestic affairs are to be chron- 
icled the births of his son Walter, in Oc- 
tober, 1801, and of his daughter Ann two 
years later. 

In 1804, owing to some criticisms by the 
Duke of Buccleugh, Scott decided that he 
must seek a dwelling nearer to his sphere 
of duties as sheriff of Selkirkshire. His 

122 



The Home of Ashestiel. 

first idea was to take possession of the an- 
cient castle in which once lived his ancestor, 
Auld Wat of Harden, but this romantic 
notion proved impracticable since, owing 
to its lonely situation, it would have been 
harder to make the journey to Selkirk than 
if he had remained at Lasswade. 

Fortunately, about this time Scott heard 
of a most convenient and beautiful dwell- 
ing on the banks of the Tweed, at Ashestiel, 
which he was able to buy from the proceeds 
of the sale of Rosebank, a house that had 
belonged to his uncle, and which had been 
left to the poet as a legacy. By the summer 
of 1 804 Scott was at home in this delightful 
dwelling on the banks of the Tweed, where 
he was to remain until his rising fortunes 
enabled him to buy the estate of Abbots- 
ford. 

The life at Ashestiel has been often de- 
scribed, but it did not differ widely from 
that led by any country gentleman of the 
time upon his estate. Up to this removal, 
it had been Scott's habit to work late at 

123 



In the Days of Scott 

night upon his writing, but now began the 
plan which he was to follow during all his 
active life. His literary work began not 
long after five o'clock in the morning, and 
was completed by the time the other mem- 
bers of his household were fairly astir. He 
thus was free to take part in their pursuits, 
and he greatly enjoyed all the sports of the 
countryside. Walking, riding, coursing, 
salmon-fishing by night, were among the 
active sports in which he took part. 

We have many particulars as to Scott's 
family and his neighbors during his resi- 
dence at Ashestiel, but as most of the men 
with whom he was not intimate remained 
his friends for many years, it will be more 
convenient to speak of them at another 
time. We have, however, a most striking 
picture of his brief friendship with Mungo 
Park, the celebrated African explorer. No 
doubt the two men were greatly interested 
in one another. We have reports of two 
striking interviews. One tells us how 
Scott, one day, found Mungo Park stand- 

124 



The Home of Ashestiel. 

ing by the side of the river throwing stones 
into the water and apparently idly watch- 
ing the bubbles as they ascended from the 
bottom of the stream. Upon Scott's mak- 
ing some jocular remark as to wasting time 
in such a frivolous amusement, Park ex- 
plained that he was simply trying over an 
experiment which had often enabled him 
while in Africa to judge as to the depth of 
a river he must cross — noting the length 
of time it took for the bubbles to ascend 
from the bottom. 

It was significant of Scott's shrewdness 
that this incident led him to suspect Mungo 
Park's intention to make a second expedi- 
tion to Africa, that expedition in which he 
lost his life. 

The second scene that brings these two 
men together was just before Park left 
England. Park's horse had stumbled, and 
Scott had called his attention to this as pos- 
sibly of evil omen. Whereupon Mungo 
Park replied with a line from an old ballad, 
saying : 

125 



Iti the Days of Scott 

**Freits follow those who took to them!" 
— ff'eits meaning omens. 

By far the most Important event of the 
year 1805 was the publication of "The Lay 
of the Last Minstrel," which took place in 
the very first week of January, and the suc- 
cess of the poem was so great that Lock- 
hart says it decided the question of Scott's 
entering upon a literary career. 

But in spite of the decision to make litera- 
ture the main business of his life, it is char- 
acteristic of Scott's prudence that he at 
the same time was careful to provide him- 
aelf with a fixed salary. He applied for the 
position of clerk of the Court of Sessions, 
which was at that time filled by an old 
^friend of the family. With this official, 
Scott arranged that the income attached to 
the post should continue to be paid to its 
incumbent, while Scott himself should per- 
form all the active duties upon condition 
that after the death of the old clerk the 
ofiice should revert to Scott. This arrange- 
ment was duly carried out, but it was six 

126 



The Home of Ashestiel. 

years before the clerkship became vacant, 
and during all this long period the duties 
were performed without bringing any 
salary to the young lawyer waiting for its 
reversion. 

Although originally begun in compliment 
to the young Countess of Dalkeith, and pos- 
sibly without any idea that it would become 
a great popular success, there were several 
elements in the poem that at once took the 
popular fancy. One of the most important 
was the novelty of the metre employed, 
Scott had heard recited Coleridge's '^Chris- 
tabel," and his ear, so long accustomed to 
the painfully regular beat of the old bal- 
lads, was delighted with the freedom se- 
cured by changing the scheme of metre 
from one based upon the counting of feet 
to one depending almost entirely upon ac- 
cent. It is characteristic of Scott that he 
was careful to give credit to Coleridge for 
the hint that added so greatly to the merits 
of his poem. 

Another event of the year that for a long 
J27 



In the Days of Scott 

time was not appreciated by Scott himself 
at its full importance, was the writing of 
the first seven chapters of his novel, 
"Waverley." 

Among Scott's friends, one to whom he 
often looked for criticism, was William 
Erskine. He read these few chapters of 
the projected story to Erskine, and when 
that critic pronounced the narrative dull, 
it was abandoned without regret, the manu- 
script being carelessly put aside in an old 
desk, where it remained in a huddle with 
some fishing tackle and other odds and ends 
until several years later. 

Upon the Continent, during this year, all 
eyes were fixed upon the meteoric career of 
Napoleon. When it is remembered that 
the autumn and winter saw the battles of 
Ulm and Austerlitz, and Napoleon's tri- 
umphant entry into Vienna, it will be ap- 
preciated that he was almost at the height 
of his power. Apparently, there was no 
obstacle to his complete domination of all 
nations except the great victory of Nelson 

J2§ 



The Home of Ashestiel. 

at Trafalgar, which once for all forbade 
the European dictator to dream of a suc- 
cessful Invasion of England. And, un- 
doubtedly, the journals of the time and all 
political discussions centered in one way or 
another about the single figure of the great 
Frenchman, and ministries in England were 
considered to be successful only when they 
succeeded in checking for a time Napoleon's 
spreading domination. 

There is no doubt that Scott's Interest in 
these political matters was keen. We are 
told that at a period not long after this, 
while he was making a journey in the north- 
ern part of Scotland, Scott was accustomed, 
even while amid scenes that might be ex- 
pected to enchain his attention, to trace the 
movements of the French and English 
forces in Portugal upon large maps which 
he kept spread before him during the jour- 
ney. 



129 



CHAPTER IX 

THE MOST POPULAR OF POETS 

Scott was a man of many interests. 
Despite the success of the **Lay," the same 
year that saw its publication was notable 
for his beginning a general commercial 
partnership in the printing business with 
his friend Ballantyne, an enterprise for 
which he put up at least half, and it may be 
three-fourths, of the capital. 

During the next three or four years, or 
until 1810, the chronicles of the time are 
hardly more than a list of Napoleon's suc- 
cesses upon the field of battle and of the 
confederations of treaties that resulted 
from them. The same time, however, saw 
that attempt to crush the spirit of the Prus- 
sians, which is considered by many his- 
torians to be the beginning of popular re- 

130 



Most Popular of Poets 

volt against Napoleon in the French de- 
pendencies, and therefore the beginning of 
his fall. 

Scott, during this time, was editing a 
life of Dryden, was composing ''Mar- 
mion/' which appeared in 1808 and easily 
disputed supremacy with the "Lay," even 
in popularity, while by the critics it was 
considered in many respects far superior 
to the former poem; the battle-scenes, es- 
pecially, were considered to be almost with- 
out rivals in literature. 

Besides his literary activity, which can 
hardly be noted even by giving a list of 
minor works such as beginning an edition 
of Swift, writing supposititious memoirs 
relating to the Civil War period, editing 
an old romance by the antiquary, Strutt, 
Scott had accepted the post of secretary to 
a parliamentary commission engaged in the 
revision of Scotch laws, and also was in 
daily attendance at court, acting in the ca- 
pacity of what is now known as a reporter 
of the legal decisions. 

131 



In the Days of Scott 

He was also deeply interested in theat- 
rical matters, having formed a friendship 
with Kemble and his sister, Mrs. Siddons, 
who were often at his house, and with 
Matthews and Terry, with whom he held 
many long and delightful discussions, en- 
livened by the gossip and playfulness of 
men of the world. In fact, it may be said 
that he played his part in half a dozen dif- 
ferent capacities, each one of which would 
have provided occupation enough for an 
ordinary man. 

As a rising author, he accepted with 
equanimity and Indulgence the attentions 
which were heaped upon him both In Edin- 
burgh and in London, and also found time 
to assist other authors less fortunate than 
himself, securing, for Instance, from the 
Princess of Wales a subscription to the 
poems of James Hogg, the Ettrick Shep- 
herd, and finding work for another unfor- 
tunate literary man named Struthers, to 
whom Scott's helping hand assured a living 
and a fairly prosperous future. He never 

132 



Most Popular of Poets 

failed to assist all such whenever he found 
it, in his power. 

As a publisher, and partner of Ballan- 
tyne, Scott's prolific suggestions supplied 
work for the presses and laid out in advance 
schemes enough to keep three publishers 
busy. 

As a public man, having become dissatis- 
fied with the conducting of the Edinburgh 
Review, Scott, in conjunction with the pub- 
lisher, John Murray, set on foot the Quar- 
terly Review as a means of counteracting 
the too great influence of Jeffrey's critical 
periodical. 

As a country gentleman, owing to his 
habit of completing his daily work by noon, 
at latest, Scott was always ready to take 
part in the outdoor sports in which he so 
much delighted, and which formed, in his 
opinion, perhaps the most valuable part of 
his children's education. 

In addition to all this, time was found 
during June of 1809 for a thorough ex- 
ploration of those scenes amid which was 

133 



In the Days of Scott 

to be located the story of ''The Lady of the 
Lake." It is no wonder that to his friends 
and acquaintances the amount of work ac- 
complished by this lawyer of forty was al- 
most incredible. 

Perhaps not all readers may know that 
it was the fashion at this time to publish 
such poems as these of Scott's in a form 
that is practically never seen at present, 
that is, in quarto size, about four times as 
large a page as is now used for the average 
book. These enormous volumes in large 
print sold at something over ten dollars a 
copy, so it will be seen that when twenty 
thousand copies of ''The Lady of the Lake" 
were disposed of in a single year, it is not 
surprising that Scott should have made 
from that one poem as much as twenty 
thousand dollars for himself. That such 
prices were paid by so many buyers seems 
surprising to us, but the public were accus- 
tomed to this form of publication, whereas 
to-day an even greater poem might readily 
fail of a wide market at such a price. 

134 



Most Popular of Poets 

The circle of readers, while not propor- 
tionately a very large one, was made up of 
people who could easily afford to pay the 
high price. The number of books produced 
being so much smaller, public attention was 
more readily concentrated upon whatever 
work happened to be the talk of the day; 
and this is seen in the effect of *'The Lady 
of the Lake" upon the travel into Scotland. 
Almost at once, the scenes of the poem were 
visited by crowds, and many other parts of 
Scotland formerly frequented were nearly 
deserted in consequence, the result being the 
comparative ruin of the innkeepers and 
guides who were dependent upon the ex- 
penditure of visitors for their living. Lock- 
hart, Scott's son-in-law, notes the odd fact 
that the travel into all parts of Scotland 
touched upon by Scott's works was so 
greatly increased by his notice of them that 
the prices for posting, that is, for horses 
and vehicles to carry tourists to the various 
localities, continually increased year after 
year. 

^3S 



In the Days of Scott 

Two rather amusing anecdotes about 
Scott's children are told in connection with 
"The Lady of the Lake." One day his 
daughter was met by James Ballantyne, the 
publisher, in her father's library, and asked 
what she thought of the poem. Upon 
which she assured him that she had not read 
It, adding, 'Tapa says there is nothing so 
bad for young people as reading bad 
poetry." 

The other story tells that his son, Wal- 
ter, returned from school one day with evi- 
dences of having been engaged in a fight. 
His father asked him what he had been 
fighting about. He replied that he had 
been called a '^lassie," and protested, **I 
dinna what there is waufer in the world 
than to be a lassie, and to sit boring at a 
clout!" It is necessary to explain that 
' Vaufer" is Scotch dialect for shabbier, and 
the last phrase means poking a needle 
through a cloth. A little questioning 
showed that young Walter's schoolfellows 
had nicknamed him ''The Lady of the 

136 



Most Popular of Poets 

Lake,'' which name the boy did not at all 
understand except as a reproach to his man- 
liness. 

Among the numberless anecdotes about 
the poem, one more may be mentioned to 
show how widely it was circulated. Sir 
Adam Fergusson happened on the day 
when the poem reached him to be posted 
with his company in Portugal, near Torres 
Vedras, exposed to a severe fire of the 
French under Massena. Under these con- 
ditions, their captain read to them, to their 
eager delight, the great description of the 
battle. In Canto Sixth. . It is a strong evi- 
dence of the poet's power that even upon 
the battlefield his lines could heighten the 
martial ardor of the soldiers. 

It is difficult, after reading these stirring 
lines, so full of power and genius, to under- 
stand how their author could be unaware 
of his own rank; and yet it is recorded that 
at this time, when, as Ballantyne puts it, 
Scott's poetic fame was at its height, he 
declared that he himself was unworthy 

137 



In the Days of Scott 

to be named in the same day with Burns, 
and, more surprising still, should have as- 
serted that Joanna Baillie was ''the highest 
genius" of Scotland. If we may believe 
him, Scott found more pleasure in reading 
''London" and "The Vanity of Human 
Wishes," two rather stilted and far from 
enlivening poems of Dr. Johnson's, than 
in any other poetical compositions he could 
name. 

But whatever Scott thought of his own 
work, there could be no doubt about its 
popularity, and relying upon the public's 
verdict, he looked upon himself as in the 
high tide of success. 

Believing at the time that he had some 
money to spare, he was very eager to make 
a trip to Portugal, in order that he might 
see something of the campaign conducted 
by Wellington, though he bore his voca- 
tion in mind when he added, "I daresay I 
should have picked up some good materials 
for battle scenery." Mrs. Scott did not ap- 
prove of the trip, and one to the Highlands 

138 



Most Popular of Poets 

was substituted. This journey was made in 
his own carriages, with a party, which en- 
abled him to alight whenever he was at- 
tracted by a bit of scenery or became inter- 
ested in the legends of any locality. 

A supplement to this journey was a 
voyage to the Hebrides, where he procured 
much material afterwards used by him in 
**The Lord of the Isles," and in his notes 
to the *Xife of Samuel Johnson," whose 
own tour to the Hebrides had taken place 
nearly forty years before. It is not likely 
that there had been in so wild a region many 
great changes, even in that length of time ; 
and Scott's experiences upon the trip must 
have enabled him to follow closely John- 
son's account of the same journey. 

Scott's return to Ashestiel was followed 
within a short time by the discovery of the 
earlier chapters of *'Waverley." He came 
upon the manuscript while looking in an 
old desk for some fishing-tackle. 

An event of 1810 which must be noted 
Is the death of Williamina Stuart Forbes, 

139 



In the Days of Scott 

for whom, despite her marriage and his 
own, Scott had never lost the tenderness of 
his affection. 

About this time, a committee having been 
formed in London for the relief of the suf- 
ferers from the war in Portugal, Scott 
wished to contribute, and wrote for the 
purpose a poem, ''The Vision of Don 
Roderick," based upon a subject connected 
with the early history of Portugal. Scott 
thought it necessary to apologize for the 
hasty work upon this piece, excusing it on 
the ground that during its composition he 
had been distracted by the loss of two in- 
timate friends. Possibly another obstacle 
which prevented his doing his best work 
was his unfamiliarity with the metre he 
then employed, the Spenserian stanza. 
Scott never seemed to lack officious friends, 
eager to tell him how he might improve his 
work, and as a result, he was induced to 
abandon more than once the flexible ballad- 
measure, which came easiest to him, and 
to make experiments in forms of verse far 

140 



Most Popular of Poets 

better adapted to other subjects than those 
he was accustomed to treat. 

These days were, altogether, Scott's first 
times of prosperity. Not only had his pen 
assured him large sums, but the arrange- 
ment that had been made to secure him an 
income from his office as Clerk of Sessions 
now first brought him returns. 

As it happened that the lease of his home 
at Ashestiel just then expired, he deter- 
mined to buy for himself an estate, with the 
intention of making it a permanent home. 
His beginnings w^ere modest enough. 
Within a few miles from Ashestiel there 
was an old farm-house and a small pond, 
together with about a hundred acres of wild 
ground lying along the banks of the Tweed. 
Within these limits was the region most 
closely connected with '^Thomas the 
Rhymer." This wild spot, when he first 
knew it, was called Clarty Hole. 

Having bought the land, Scott rechris- 
tened it '^Abbotsford," from the shallow 
spot in the river across which the monks of 

14X 



In the Days of Scott 



elrose had driven their cattle. There has 
been, in all the various Lives written of Sir 
Walter Scott, a strain of criticism which 
may be summed up in the brief statement 
that, instead of devoting himself strictly 
to the work of producing English literature, 
he chose to sp-end some part of the large 
sums he received in attempting to found a 
home and a family. 

Certainly, as has been suggested, his 
original scheme was modest enough. There 
is little doubt that he was victimized, or at 
least imposed upon, by the canny Scots who 
were fortunate enough to possess lands bor- 
dering upon the estate he was trying to 
create. But the first plans of Abbotsford 
contemplated little more than a modest 
home, in no way too fine or too large for his 
household, particularly when we remember 
the great number of his friends and the 
many calls upon him for hospitality. Scott 
felt that he was able to earn a small fortune 
at any time by a few months' work. His 
estimate of himself was far more modest 



Most Popular of Poets 

than was that of his friends. Even as a 
business man he exhibited better judgment 
than any of those around him. He was 
courted by publishers and booksellers, he 
enjoyed tht confidence and esteem of the 
best people in London and in Edinburgh; 
and even from the standpoint of the most 
practical of men there was nothing from 
which could be argued that his plans of se- 
curing a family estate were chimerical. 
Some of his friends have maintained that 
his reliance upon the Ballantynes was most 
imprudent, but it will be found by any one 
who will carefully read the story of the 
relations between the author and the Bal- 
lantyne brothers that the clear mind of 
Scott was never at a loss in his estimate of 
the virtues and failings of his business asso- 
ciates. 

When the time came for the removal 
from Ashestiel to Abbotsford, there was a 
procession of carts containing a most cu- 
rious mixture of household goods and an- 
tiquities. No one can improve upon the 

143 



In the Days of Scott 

picture which Scott himself has given of 
this ''flitting." He says: "The neighbors 
have been much delighted with the proces- 
sion of my furniture, in which old swords, 
bows, turkeys and lances made a very con- 
spicuous show. The family of turkeys was 
accommodated within the helmet of some 
preux chevalier of ancient Border fame, and 
the very cows, for aught I know, were bear- 
ing banners and muskets. This caravan 
was attended by a dozen of ragged and rosy 
peasant children carrying fishing-rods and 
spears." 



144 



CHAPTER X 

LAST OF THE POEMS, AND FIRST OF THE 
NOVELS 

Abbotsford was paid for, half with 
borrowed money advanced by Scott's 
brother, and half with advanced payment 
for a promised poem, ''Rokeby," which had 
been inspired by the romantic stories con- 
nected with a friend's country-seat. This 
poem was, therefore, a piece of task-work 
performed amid the din made by the 
mechanics who were completing his new 
home, the poet's work-room being screened 
off by an old bed-curtain. 

It is not easy to write verse when some- 
one IS beating the wrong metre with a ham- 
mer, and his first efforts were thrown aside. 
A new start being made in what Scott called 

Hi 



In the Days of Scott 

'^the old Cossack manner," the poem was 
published early in January, 1813. 

Though the whole edition sold, Scott felt 
dissatisfaction, and was inclined to believe 
that the rivalry of Byron's fresh, easy verse 
made it necessary for him to attempt suc- 
cess in another field. But before complet- 
ing '^Rokeby," and abandoning poetry, he 
wrote, in the *^Bridal of Triermain," a piece 
of work more in keeping with his own 
earlier style, and yet took every pains to 
conceal his authorship and to mislead the 
critics and the public into the belief that the 
romantic piece came from the pen of his 
friend Erskine. 

His motives for this piece of deception 
were probably various ; but he declared that 
he wished to test public opinion, and to put 
forth a poem that would be judged apart 
from his reputation. The world was not 
long hoodwinked, but Scott had taken the 
first step in a course of concealment that 
was to last long after the Waverley Novels 
were triumphantly successful, 

146 



Last of the Poems 

These, the last days when Scott was pri- 
marily a writer of verse, were so full of his- 
toric happenings that one wonders there 
was a public willing to listen at all to ro- 
mantic ballads. From 1 8 1 1 , when the poet 
left his Ashestiel home, to the publication 
of *Waverley," in July, 1814, is a period 
notable because of many historic events. 
Napoleon was, in 181 1, at the height of 
his power, endeavoring by absorbing the 
Papal States, Holland, Germany, to shut 
England's ships out from commerce with 
Europe ; but the historian Gardiner declares 
that by the tyranny necessary to carry out 
these plans Napoleon was losing the popu- 
lar support that had made his rise possible. 
Wellington, in Portugal and Spain, was de- 
feating the Marshals, and though checked 
by superior forces, was able to prevail when 
the withdrawal of Russia from the French 
alliance recalled some of the strongest of 
Napoleon's troops, so that when Napoleon 
marched into Russia, Wellington invaded 
Spain and took Madrid. In 18 12 came 

147 



In the Days of Scott 

Napoleon's disastrous Russian campaign 
and England's war with the United States. 
The English, acting against Napoleon, for- 
bade neutral nations to trade with the con- 
tinent of Europe, and this, added to their 
asserted right to search our vessels for de- 
serters, caused the United States to declare 
war; though John Fiske, the historian, has 
shown that our grievances against France 
were greater than against England. But 
while Napoleon had deceitfully invited our 
ships to France and then seized them, this 
had thiefly affected private citizens ; where- 
as England's aggressions were considered 
insulting to the flag, and the politicians 
hoped that war declared by the United 
States might lead to a conquest of Canada. 
There were sea-fights in which after six 
months' warfare the Americans captured six 
men-of-war; and when the English frigate 
^'Shannon" captured the '^Chesapeake," the 
victory was greeted with "extravagant ju- 
bilation." It was in this fight that Captain 
Lawrence used the words "Don't give up 

148 



Last of the Poems 

the ship," as he was carried below, mortally 
wounded. The war was notable for the 
exploits of Porter in the **Essex," and for 
the victories of the *'Wasp" and the **Con- 
stitution." On land the advantages were 
all with the British, but it would lead us 
too far from Abbotsford to note the cam- 
paigns in the northwest, the north, and the 
south, though the presence of Scott's 
brother Thomas in Canada may have in- 
creased his interest in the war. 

The year 1 8 1 2 was one, says Crockett in 
his *^Scott Country," of Scott's busiest 
years. **Five days every week he did Court 
of Session duty of Edinburgh. Saturday 
evening saw him at Abbotsford. On Mon- 
day he superintended the licking into shape 
of his new domicile, and again at night he 
was coaching it to the city." And at every 
interval in the law work and the overseeing 
of the estate, the busy pen was producing 
reams of manuscript to pay for the im- 
provements going on all about. 

Besides everything else, the Ballantynes 
149 



k 



In the Days of Scott 

needed much supervision, for the elder 
brother was by no means a methodical busi- 
ness man, and the younger was even worse, 
being too good a table companion and story- 
teller to love the dry details of book- 
keeping. Very likely, too, Scott was much 
to blame. He was really the managing 
partner of the firm, fond of having his own 
way, and yet had so many irons in the fire 
that he was compelled to neglect the details 
of the publishing business he actually con- 
trolled. 

During 1 8 13 there were many proofs 
that affairs were coming to a crisis in the 
Ballantyne establishment; indeed, it was 
necessary for Scott to seek aid from his 
friends in order to prevent a complete fail- 
ure. About this time the poet-laureateship 
was offered to Scott, but being already 
Sheriff and Court Clerk, he declined another 
salaried ofBce and suggested that the poet 
Southey be named. This was done, and 
Southey was duly grateful, both for the 
honor and for the income. * 

150 



Last of the Poems 

In the last three months of this year 
Scott was editing Swift's works and writing 
the author's Hfe, beginning ^'The Lord of 
the Isles," and — most important of all — 
had decided to complete the exhumed man- 
uscript of ^Waverley." 

Though France was still in the ascend- 
ant, there were not lacking signs of weak- 
ness to prove that the allies were to tri- 
umph, and the hope of reopening com- 
merce with Europe made times good in 
England, much to the benefit of Scott's 
business interests. 

When Scott's edition of Swift appeared, 
Jeffrey, the editor of the Edinburgh Re- 
view, wrote a notice of the volumes, but 
devoted most of his energy to attacking 
Swift's character, much to the chagrin of 
Scott's publisher, who feared that the sale 
of the edition would be seriously affected, 
and his regret was the greater because it 
was at his own request that Jeffrey had un- 
dertaken the reviewing. 

But the fate of the ''Swift" was soon of 



In the Days of Scott 

little importance. There were few novels 
of more than mediocre merit, and the best 
of them — in Scott's opinion, Miss Edge- 
worth's — had but a limited sale. John Bal- 
lantyne copied the first volume of "Waver- 
ley," and as soon as it was printed the pub- 
lisher offered £700 for the copyright. Scott 
refused, but consented to an agreement 
giving him half of the profits. Between the 
writing of the first volume and the second, 
Scott wrote two articles for the Encyclo- 
paedia Britannica Supplement, which Con- 
stable was then bringing out; and these (on 
Chivalry and the Drama) being completed, 
the last volumes of * Waverley" were writ- 
ten between the fourth of June and the first 
of July, though the usual time was given to 
Scott's court work. 

Lockhart, in regard to the rapidity with 
v/hich these two volumes were composed, 
tells the well-known anecdote of the gentle- 
man who was made so nervous by the sight 
of Scott's tireless hand. ''Since we sat 
down," said he, ''I have been watching it 

152 



Last of the Poems 

It fascinates my eye. It never stops. Page 
after page is finished and thrown on that 
heap of manuscript, and still it goes on un- 
wearied. And so it will be till candles are 
brought in, and God knows how long after 
that. I can't stand a sight of it when I am 
not at my books." 

After the first of the Waverley Novels 
was out, Scott was invited to go with the 
Light House Commissioners on their an- 
nual expedition. All the officials were his 
friends, and the chief of them was Robert 
Stevenson, grandfather of Robert Louis 
Stevenson. 

Robert Stevenson wrote his reminiscences 
of the trip, and gives us a delightful pic- 
ture of Scott telling stories in regard to the 
localities passed, busily writing upon a port- 
able desk, while the wind flapped his pages 
and the spray was now and then dashed 
over him, or reading to the party from the 
proof-sheets of the **Lord of the Isles." 
This article was published some years ago 
In Scribner^s Magazine, with an Introduc- 

^S3 



I 



In the Days of Scott 

tlon by the grandson of the author, and it 
gives us a close view of Scott at this time. 

Scott tells much about this trip in his 
notes to the '*Lord of the Isles" and to 
'^The Pirate," and says in summary: 'We 
had constant exertion, a succession of wild 
and uncommon scenery, good humor on 
board, and objects of animation and inter- 
est when we went ashore." If wishes were 
only boats, instead of horses, there are few 
voyages in which one would rather have 
shared than this around the northern 
coasts of Scotland. 

Just before the ending of the trip Scott 
found news both good and bad. He learned 
of the death of the Duchess of Buccleugh, 
his friend since the old Lasswade days, and 
her to whom he owed the inspiration of the 
''Lay of the Last Minstrel"; he heard also 
good tidings — namely, that Constable, his 
publisher, agreed to give him 1,500 guineas 
for half-rights in "The Lord of the Isles"; 
and that "Waverley" had sold so well that 
its success was certain. Of course, there 

154 



First of the Novels 

was not to be for many years any public 
acknowledgment of Scott's authorship, but 
Lockhart declares that the mystification 
never answered much purpose among those 
who were most likely to know Scott's style 
and method. 

The critics found some real and more 
imagined faults; but the public apprecia- 
tion was immediate, and Scott returned to 
Abbotsford in good spirits, to complete 
^The Lord of the Isles." 

Among the books Scott had read during 
the Light House voyage was one of poems 
based on traditions of Galloway and Ayr- 
shire, by Joseph Train. To secure informa- 
tion needed, Scott wrote to Train, and re- 
ceived in return most generous assistance. 
This correspondence led to a most useful 
co-operation. *^To no one individual," 
Lockhart writes, ''did Scott owe so much of 
the materials of his novels." *'Guy Man- 
nering," the second to appear, was sug- 
gested by a ballad forwarded by Train, 
who was connected with the excise service. 

^55 



In the Days of Scott 

Like **Waverley" (except that slow first 
volume), the second of the series was writ- 
ten with great rapidity, '*Guy Mannering" 
being finished in six weeks of the Christmas 
season of 1814; but the haste was due to 
business difficulties requiring the raising of 
a large sum of money. Except for his occa- 
sional outings, these years were those of 
Scott's unflagging industry, and the dates 
of some of his greatest works now come 
so thick and fast that merely to record them 
would give perhaps the best impression of 
his days at this time. 

Thus, '"Waverley" was hardly off the 
press before the second of the series was 
announced, and between the two appeared 
the *Xord of the Isles," to **puzzle and 
confound" those that suspected Scott of 
writing all three. This, the last of his long 
poems, had a success that would have 
seemed marvellous except when compared 
with its predecessors or when compared 
with the wonderful popularity of Byron's 
poems, three of which came out in 18 14. 

156 



First of the Novels 

Scott was disappointed, but, saying to 
Ballantyne, *We can't afford to give over. 
Since one line has failed, we must just stick 
to something else," he went back to the 
pages of *^Guy Mannering." The story is 
told by Ballantyne, who gives the impres- 
sion that Scott was completely convinced 
that Byron was about to drive him from 
the throne he had so long occupied without 
a rival. Lockhart warmly urges that **the 
Byron of 1814" owed "at least half his 
success to imitation of Scott, and no trivial 
share of the rest to the lavish use of mate- 
rials which Scott never employed only be- 
cause his genius was under the guidance of 
high feelings of moral rectitude." 

Yet, although Scott has resumed his sway 
over that very part of the public he feared 
Byron would win from him, there is no de- 
nying there was justification for Scott's 
feeling that Byron's genius as poet was su- 
perior to his own. The younger man, de- 
spite imitation, affectation, and reckless 
carelessness, was destined to be chief of the 



Tn the Days of Scott 

Romantic School — that school which, to 
quote from Thomas Moore, regarded 
poetry as *^only to be employed as an inter- 
preter of feeling." Byron had many poetic 
qualities inferior to those of Scott, but in 
some of the highest he was Scott's superior, 
and it was the recognition of this superior- 
ity that decided the older poet to abandon 
the field. "Byron hits the mark," he de- 
clared, '* where I don't even pretend to 
fledge my arrow.'* 



158 



CHAPTER XI 

THE EARLIER NOVELS 

When speaking in Scott's own way of 
his * ^failure'' as a poet, it must not be for- 
gotten that the failure was only a loss of the 
first place in public estimation. Byron's 
greater popularity meant only a change in 
fashion. It was a time when the uprising 
of the French had set men to questioning 
much they had long accepted without doubt, 
and Byron's scornful defiance of the com- 
monplace, his freedom of speech, his beauty 
and the romantic facts of his career drew to 
him more readers than Scott's poems, once 
their novelty was lost, could command. 

But there were depths in Scott from 
which he could mine richer ore than Byron's 
youth afforded. The novels gave Scott a 

^9 



In the Days of Scott 

field wherein to display all the wealth he 
had accumulated in years of study, research, 
and intercourse with his countrymen. Few 
of his gatherings could be formed into ma- 
terial for his poems, but in the Waverleys 
all the rich store could be utilized for the 
adornment of his pages. 

The only question was whether the read- 
ing public would welcome the prose-works, 
and this was soon triumphantly answered. 

Finishing *'The Lord of the Isles," Scott 
decided to work steadily at "Guy Manner- 
ing," and finished the novel so promptly 
that it came out within a month after the 
poem. It was at this time, as he told Lock- 
hart afterward, that his "blood was kept at 
fever pitch," and the list of works com- 
pleted during the previous year is amazing, 
both in number and variety. 

The success of "Guy Mannering" was so 
great that he felt relieved from the pressure 
of business cares, and decided to make a 
trip to London — the first for six years. The 
eyents of this holiday were his meetings with 

1 60 



The Earlier Novels 

Byron, and his dinner with the Prince Re- 
gent. Of course the dinner was most grati- 
fying to the poet, and showed how highly 
he was esteemed ; but to us it is a matter of 
only the slightest importance. It is enough 
to say that the prince and the poet told 
stories and exchanged jokes, to the admira- 
tion of the choice little company invited, 
and the mutual good-will thus shown 
resulted later in Scott's becoming *'Sir 
Walter." 

The meetings with Byron were likewise 
most pleasant, resulting in an interchange 
of civilities jproving that the older poet had 
no petty envy of his younger rival and that 
the public's newer favorite, in spite of some 
criticisms he had written, held Scott's work 
in proper estimation. These two literary 
lions were brought frequently together in 
London society, and Scott says: '*Our sen- 
timents agreed a good deal, except upon 
the subjects of religion and politics, upon 
neither of which I was inclined to believe 
that Lord Byron entertained very fixed 



In the Days of Scott 

opinions." At all events, it is certain that 
the opinions of these two men were not 
likely to agree, since they represented two 
very opposite tendencies — Scott being full 
of reverence for the treasures of the past, 
while Byron was in revolt against whatever 
seemed to him to interfere with the liberal 
tendencies of his time. But their meetings 
were cordial, and they exchanged two gifts 
that seemed most fitting — Scott giving 
Byron a dagger mounted with gold, receiv- 
ing in return a silver vase full of bones dug 
from ancient sepulchres in Athens; in each 
case it seems remarkable how these objects 
typify the receiver, until we remember that 
each giver was thinking what would please 
the taste of the other. 

While Scott was thus receiving the com- 
pliments of London, the news came of Na- 
poleon's escape from Elba, his secret land- 
ing with a handful of followers, his tri- 
umphant advance to Paris as the soldiers 
sent to oppose him ranged themselves under 
his eagles, and the flight of the Bourbon 

i6z 



The Earlier Novels 

king whose refusal ^*to learn anything or to 
forget anything" had made his brief reign 
a continual irritation to the French. Al- 
though Napoleon would have been willing 
to keep the peace, his enemies no longer 
trusted him, and England, Prussia, Austria 
and Russia once more prepared their armies 
and spent the spring in making ready for 
the summer's struggle. 

Another subject that then occupied men's 
minds in England was the attempt to pre- 
vent the importing of grain. As times were 
hard in England, many men being unem- 
ployed, and taxes remained high because 
the war-taxation had not been lowered, 
there was much distress and dissatisfaction. 

The certainty of war on the Continent 
prevented Scott from making a foreign trip 
he had planned, and in May he returned to 
Scotland, where he remained until after the 
meeting of the French and the Allies, dur- 
ing the campaign that ended with Water- 
loo. When it is remembered that Napoleon 
had left Elba February 26, to arrive in a 

163 



In the Days of Scott 

land governed by his enemies, and that he 
was not in Paris until March 20, there is 
hardly a more surprising fact in his career 
than the strength he was able to display at 
Waterloo. In eighty days he had raised, 
equipped and put upon the field a superbly 
disciplined army of some seventy thousand; 
and lost that great battle by so little that 
historians are still disputing whether he 
should not have won if his marshals had 
carried out his plans. 

It is not strange that Scott was, like all 
the public men of his time, completely ab- 
sorbed in the campaign upon which the fate 
of so many nations hung; and that when 
news came of the great victory, he was 
eager to be one of the travelers who rushed 
to view the battlefield and to witness the 
gathering of notabilities in Paris. With 
three young friends, he took a stage-coach, 
leaving Edinburgh toward the end of July, 
and going by way of Cambridge and then 
to Harwich, riding atop to enjoy the beauti- 
ful weather. 

164 



The Earlier Novels 

In the boat by which they crossed the 
North Sea, Scott was recognized by the cap- 
tain, and Lockhart says the passage became 
''perilous chiefly in consequence of the un- 
ceasing tumblers in which the worthy kept 
drinking Scott's health." 

Arrived in Paris, the English notables 
enabled the distinguished author to attend 
some of the fetes in honor of Wellington, 
where he ''saw half the crowned heads of 
Europe grouped among the gallant soldiers 
who had cut a way for them to the guilty 
capital of France," and was presented to 
the Duke, who treated Scott with a kind- 
ness and confidence which Scott considered 
"the highest distinction of his life." All 
this adulation was most gratifying; but to 
us of a later generation it may be a fair 
question whether there was at any of the 
gatherings a greater man than the novelist. 
The fame won by literature rests upon work 
later ages may value for themselves, while 
the renown of the statesman and soldier 
must seem greatest to the men of their own 

165 



In the Days of Scott 

time. It IS unfortunate that the author's 
best fame is often posthumous. 

Scott's experiences during this journey 
formed the material for many letters which 
after being read by his family were slightly 
edited and published by Constable under 
the title, 'TauPs Letters to His Kinsfolk." 
Returning by way of Dieppe, Brighton and 
London, Scott visited Warwick, Kenilworth 
and Corby Castle, and soon was again at 
Abbotsford ready for the accumulation of 
matters Ballantyne brought for his atten- 
tion. Among the many anecdotes Lockhart 
tells us, we must not omit Scott's assertion 
to Ballantyne that he had never felt awed 
or abashed except in the presence of one 
man — the Duke of Wellington, to whom 
the loyal Scotchman ascribed qualities that 
flattered even so great a man as the Iron 
Duke undoubtedly was. But, despite his 
admiration for the victor and his satisfac- 
tion in the downfall of Napoleon, the poem 
in which Scott celebrated *^The Field of 
Waterloo" needs the apology the author 

i66 



The Earlier Novels 

has prefixed, being a dull moral essay in- 
stead of an ode of battle or song of victory. 
That it may have been popular at the time 
is easy to believe, but there is no reason 
why it should require the attention of read- 
ers to-day. Victor Hugo's prose-story of 
the same battle is a far finer poem. But 
about this time Byron's publisher, John 
Murray, had been bringing out that poet's 
works in cheaper form than the usual big 
quarto volumes, and Scott's ^Waterloo" 
being issued in the same new style, attained 
a large sale and greatly increased the fund 
for the relief of Waterloo's widows and 
orphans, to which he had given the pro- 
ceeds. After this time poems were no 
longer published in the bulky quarto form 
— and the change proved acceptable to the 
public. 

All the prosperity Scott was now enjoy- 
ing increased his desire to improve Abbots- 
ford, and he made purchases of land that 
made his estate a truly lordly one, and like 
a lord he enjoyed it. The pages of Lock- 

167 



In the Days of Scott 

hart give us pictures of many festivities 
and celebrations wherein Scott's hearty hos- 
pitality and eager loyalty to the head of his 
clan are shown, and there are plenty of inci- 
dents that show him no less ready to play 
the benevolent part that befitted an old 
manorial lord, in helping those less fortu- 
nate than he had been. 

Meanwhile, succeeding the busy days of, 
1 8 15, came a time of much uninterrupted 
work, resulting in some nine volumes of 
prose. Notable among these is the great 
novel, *'The Antiquary," which appeared in 
May, about the time that he was also busy 
with the first 'Tales of My Landlord," 
comprising ''The Black Dwarf" and "Old 
Mortality." The first of these was not alto- 
gether pleasing to the publisher Murray, 
and he ventured to suggest certain changes 
in the latter chapters. Scott resented this, 
and declared: "I belong to the Black Hus- 
sars of literature, who neither give nor re- 
ceive quarter. FU be cursed but this is the 
most impudent proposal that ever was 

168 



The Earlier Novels 

made!" And the novel was successful 
enough to support Scott in his decision. 
*'01d Mortality" is said by Lockhart to be 
the first of the novels that owed its being to 
impressions derived from books rather than 
from his own experiences. It was inspired 
by the wish to paint truthfully the character 
of the Viscount of Dundee — whose portrait 
was the only picture that adorned Scott'"s 
library. *^Harold the Dauntless" was an- 
other publication of this year, but had been 
under way for several years, and cannot 
therefore be looked upon as a return to the 
poetical field. It was coolly received by the 
public, and thus confirmed Scott's resolution 
to give his best hours to the prose novels. 

Among the general events of the year 
may be noted the acquisition by the govern- 
ment of the ''Elgin Marbles," the Athenian 
sculptures brought from the ruined Parthe- 
non by the Earl of Elgin between 1801 and 
1803, which were sold to the British Mu- 
seum for £36,000. The death of Richard 
Brinsley Sheridan, at the age of 65, removed 

169 



In the Days of Scott 

one of the most brilliant figures of the age, 
a man distinguished in literature, in public 
life, and socially, a wit, a man of the world, 
but a victim to the faults of his time. He 
died in poverty, and was rewarded for his 
services to the stage and to the people by a 
"magnificent funeral in Westminster Ab- 
bey." Sheridan's ruin was at last due to the 
burning of Drury Lane Theatre in 1809, a 
calamity that brought with it at least 
one blessing — the amusing "Rejected Ad- 
dresses," written by Horace and James 
Smith, parodying the styles of those poets 
of the day who might be supposed to send 
in an "Address" for the opening of the re- 
built theatre in 18 12. The imitation of 
Scott in this volume was so striking that he 
declared, "I certainly must have written 
this myself, though I have forgotten when," 
and Byron was caricatured with equal 
success. 

Scott could hardly complain with justice, 
for he, too, had made free with the names 
of other authors. In this year he began to 

170 



The Earlier Novels 

make up mottoes for his chapters instead 
of selecting them; not only did he write 
original "quotations" and credit them, to 
"Old. Play," "Old Ballad," or to fictitious 
authors, but now and then he used real 
names for his own work, once quoting from 
"Canto XVII" of Don Juan, of which 
Byron gives only sixteen cantos. This trick 
began one day when Ballantyne was long 
about finding a needed passage in an old 
play, whereupon Scott told him that it was 
easier to write than to find. 

The year had been a trying. one for the 
poor in England, and when the harvest 
proved small, discontent produced a number 
of serious riots, showing much opposition to 
the introduction of new machinery into the 
mills, where, it was believed, laborers were 
displaced. The first few months of 1817 
saw an increase of these troubles, and there 
was a gathering of the unemployed into a 
great mob of men who, carrying blankets 
for warmth, marched from Manchester, 
probably with no other intention than to 

171 



In the Days of Scott 

secure relief by bringing themselves to the 
notice of the government. Their proces- 
sion was known as the **March of the Blan- 
keteers," and caused much apprehension, 
for the French Revolution was yet fresh in 
men's minds, and the '*Corn Laws'' had 
caused much agitation. 

The poor had much of which they might 
fairly complain ; manufacturers had not yet 
been restrained by law from oppressing 
their workers, and children of not more 
than six years were compelled to work fif- 
teen hours a day. These and similar evils 
caused riots among the poor and talk of re- 
form among those who blamed the institu- 
tions of the time. 

The government passed the most severe 
laws to put down '^seditious meetings," and 
for a time suspended the '^Habeas Corpus 
Act," but their scare ended when better 
harvests brought a return of prosperity. 



172 



CHAPTER XII 

THE LAIRD OF ABBOTSFORD 

In Scott's life, 1817 was marked by the 
beginning of a severe illness, cramps in the 
stomach, ''only to be relieved by blood- 
letting" — ^which gives us a hint of the med- 
ical science of the day. But in the intervals 
of his attacks came many pleasant days. 
He visited some localities connected with 
the life of ''Rob Roy," being then engaged 
on that novel, and was busy in buying more 
land and in putting up the new buildings at 
Abbotsford. 

To Americans the year is remarkable for 
the visit made by one of our own famous 
authors to Scott. For in August, Washing- 
ton Irving was Scott's guest at Abbotsford, 
and has left us, written in his beautiful 

^73. 



I 



In the Days of Scott 

style, a most charming story of their meet- 
ing. 

Another event of especial interest early 
in 1 8 1 8 was the finding of the Scotch royal 
regalia which for a hundred years had re- 
mained in an old oak chest all but forgotten 
in Dunnottar Castle — a ruin that has a most 
romantic history extending even further 
than the days of William Wallace. The 
stirring scene when the old chest was forced 
and the ^^honors" of the Scottish crown 
again saw the light should be read at full 
length in the records. Scott's impulsive 
protest when one of the commissioners in 
charge made a motion to put the ancient 
crown upon the head of one of the ladies, 
stirs the blood of the reader with hearty 
sympathy. It was in Dunnottar church- 
yard that Scott once saw David Patterson, 
the original of ''Old Mortality," piously re- 
newing the Covenanters' epitaphs, for many 
were brought here during the reign of 
Charles IL and confined in the castle dun- 
geon, 

174 



The Laird of Abbots ford 

Every foot of Scottish soil seems over- 
laid with memories of the past, and even 
Scott's busy pen could do little more than 
record a few out of the luxuriant abun- 
dance. Black's ^Ticturesque Guide" to 
Scotland — especially the older editions — 
with Birket Foster's exquisite drawings, are 
treasures to the lover of Scott and his native 
land, and help us to know the charm of the 
journeys to historic scenes that gave the 
novelist rest and refreshment from his mar- 
velous labors. 

The year 1 8 1 8, with its excellent harvest, 
brought for a time, at least, an end to the 
labor troubles; and it is said that the 
weather was so favorable that some trees 
blossomed twice. It was with Scott the time 
of the greatest prosperity, and during this 
summer Lockhart first met him, and was 
especially impressed by the modesty with 
which the great author, courted by all 
ranks, idolized by his countrymen, rich in 
power and possessions, bore his blushing 
honors. 

X75 



In the Days of Scott 

One longs to quote long passages from 
Lockhart — but there is the book itself, 
never to be neglected by any true Scott's 
man ; and so full, so entertaining is it that 
only by going further afield can there be an 
excuse for writing about the subject at all. 
We may note, for example, that the Ger- 
man velocipede — the bicycle's forerunner — 
came into England at about the date of 
''Rob Roy" and 'The Heart of Mid- 
lothian," and that steel-engraving also came 
into more general use in the same years; 
while lithography was yet a novelty. In 
1 8 19, the year of the "Bride of Lammer- 
moor," the '^Legend of Montrose," and 
"Ivanhoe," came the death of James Watt 
about a month after the first steam-vessel 
crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and about three 
months after the birth of little Victoda, de- 
stined to come to the throne at the age of 
eighteen, and to reign so long that her time 
seems our own day and warns us that we are 
now approaching the present or are at least 
upon its threshold. 

176 



The Laird of Abbotsford 

Once Lockhart has become intimate with 
the Scott family, he is able to make his 
biography so full and so vivid that we are 
led to know the head of the household more 
intimately than any other author, for even 
Dr. Johnson cannot be brought so near, 
owing to the lapse of years and change of 
surroundings. With Lockhart we enter 
Scott's neatly systematic library ; we dine at 
his table, see his playful frolics with his 
dogs, his joking with his friends and ser- 
vants, his excursions by day and night. We 
hear him read aloud the plays of Shake- 
speare, or sing old ballads with more en- 
thusiasm than melody. We learn what 
poems were his favorites, and we witness 
the celebration of a new **Waverley" by a 
dinner at James Ballantyne's or we meet the 
actors who gathered at the table of the 
younger brother, John, — Braham, Liston, 
Kean, Kemble and others less known to us. 

While much is like the life of to-day, 
there are not wanting here and there oddi- 
ties to remind us that those days are now 

177 



In the Days of Scott 

some fourscore years ago; though, of 
course, it is in material things that the dif- 
ferences are most manifest. Had we lived 
then, we might have found life more ro- 
mantic, but certainly we should have been 
less comfortable. No reader of the Wav- 
erley Novels need be told that Scott's 
knowledge of history was, for his day, wide, 
accurate, and profound; but in the records 
of his conversations with visitors tO' Abbots- 
ford there is further proof that the infor- 
mation in his novels was drawn from a full 
mind and not merely ^'read up" for his fic- 
tion. His views, too, were independent and 
not those he had gleaned from historians, 
and were stated with a wealth of illustra- 
tion and lightened by amusing stories 
through which one saw the people who lived 
the events described. 

But even more delightful than the talk 
of the host were the quaint old customs that 
made a visit to Abbotsford a journey into 
the past. The singing of old Scotch bal- 
lads, the playing of the piper before the 

X78 



The Laird of Abhotsford 

windows, the old dances, the queer drinking 
observances, made the days beneath Scott's 
roof-tree memorials of antiquity. All these 
revivals must have aided the novelist to re- 
vive old-time scenes, and help to account 
for his success in representing the life of 
the past. 

That Scott did not overvalue old trap- 
pings may be gathered from his feelings 
when it was told him that the new king — 
for by the death of George III. on Janu- 
ary 29, 1820, the Prince Regent became 
George IV. — meant to make him a Baro- 
net. ''After all," he writes to a friend, ''if 
one must speak for themselves, I have my 
quarters and emblazonments, free of all 
stain but Border Theft and High Treason, 
which I hope are gentleman-like crimes; 
and I hope Sir Walter Scott will not sound 
worse than Sir Humphrey Davy, though 
my merits are as much under his, in point of 
utility, as can well be imagined." 

This idea, that works of literature are of 
less utility than those of science, is one due 

179 



In the Days of Scott 

to a prejudice hardly yet removed ; the same 
belief was expressed by Scott In another 
way upon his justifying the reverence he 
felt for the Duke of Wellington. To-day 
it will not be thought absurd to assert that 
the world might feel as much gratitude to 
the poet and novelist as to the general or to 
the man of science. It is beginning tO' be 
admitted that the formation of character 
and the education of the soul are objects as 
worthy as the winning of battles or the in- 
crease of knowledge, while we do not feel it 
necessary to condemn the novelists because 
their lessons are conveyed in a pleasant way 
or without direct intention. But these views 
were born later than the days of Scott, who 
never magnified his calling. 

During 1819 and 1820, Scott wrote 
'^Ivanhoe," 'The Monastery" and "The 
Abbot," besides much minor work, though 
there were the usual interruptions. His ill- 
ness continued, but he dictated when he 
could not work otherwise from pain, and he 
concealed his sufferings so far as possible. 

180 



The Laird of Abhotsford 

Lockhart tells us, however, that his illness 
was so severe that it had turned his hair 
white and made him so thin that his clothes 
hung loosely about him. But, although the 
author worked under such disadvantages, 
the novels of this time were the most widely 
circulated of the whole series, and the be- 
lief that their successors were as popular led 
Scott into expenditures he could not afford. 

Among the public events of 1820 were 
the noted controversy as to rights and 
wrongs of the domestic life — or lives — of 
the king and queen, who were engaged in 
the old pot-and-kettle controversy; the dis- 
covery of the Cato Street conspiracy to mur- 
der the members of the Cabinet, a sort of 
forerunner of modern terrorist plots; and 
the death of the aged Benjamin West, the 
Quaker boy of Pennsylvania who became 
President of the English Royal Academy, a 
painter truly great in spite of his being lim- 
ited by the conventional style of his times. 

To the same year belong two noted por- 
traits of Sir Walter — the Chantrey bust and 

181 



In the Days of Scott 

the Lawrence painting, both slightly ideal- 
ized, and therefore lacking a little in the 
force of their original. In April, Scott's 
eldest daughter, Sophia, became the wife of 
John Gibson Lockhart, whose biography 
thereafter gains much by his more intimate 
association with the family. We thus have 
pictured for us the great festivals of Ab- 
botsf ord by one who took part in each. We 
see the guests gathered for the hunt, for 
fishing excursions, for a harvest home or a 
country dance, or we stand beside Scott as 
"on the last morning of every December" 
he received all the children on his estate and 
gave them presents, according to the old 
custom : 

**The cottar weanies, glad and gay, 
Wi' pocks out owre their shouther. 
Sing at the doors of hogmanay." 

In 1 82 1, the novelist's budget was 
'^Kenilworth," "The Fortunes of Nigel," 
both marvelous pictures of Elizabethan 

182 



The Laird of Abbots ford 

times, and **The Pirate," while there were 
two trips to London, during the second of 
which (begun on a steamship) he described 
the Coronation of George IV., the other 
being a business trip to look after the inter- 
ests of his fellow Clerks of Sessions. An 
incident during the coronation gives us some 
measure of his popularity. Returning on 
foot from the banquet in Westminster Hall, 
the crowd became so dense that Sir Walter 
asked to pass through the line of soldiery 
and was refused. But his companion hap- 
pened to call him by name, whereupon the 
dragoon exclaimed: 'What? Sir Walter 
Scott? — he shall get through anyhow!" 
and, addressing his men, members of the 
Scots Greys, he ordered: ''Make room, 
men, for Sir Walter Scott, our illustrious 
countryman!" and he was in a moment 
within the guarded line of safety. 

In this year came the death of the 
younger Ballantyne, of whose loss Scott de- 
clared, "I feel as if there would be less sun- 
shine for me from this day forth." 

183 



In the Days of Scott 

Toward the end of that year builders 
were busy at Abbotsford with the ''rising 
edifice on Tweedside," as Lockhart calls it, 
and Sir Walter superintended the smallest 
details of the building, as if this occupation 
also was the only subject occupying his 
mind. But so busy was the Baronet, the 
Laird, the Novelist, the Clerk of Sessions, 
the Editor — for Scott never abandoned one 
thing upon taking up another — that the 
chronicles of a single year might easily be 
expanded to a chapter without the bringing 
in of outside matters. 

Thus in 1821 and 1822 we have all the 
incidents of the king's visit to Edinburgh, 
with Scott as master of ceremonies; all his 
negotiations about new works with Con- 
stable, his enthusiastic publisher; the con- 
tinued influx of visitors to Abbotsford ; and 
if we turn to events of the time we must 
chronicle the death of Napoleon at St. He- 
lena, the agitation over a revolution in 
Spain, the disgraceful riots during the 
funeral of Queen Caroline, the rise of Sir 

184 



The Laird of Abbotsford 

Robert Peel, his efforts to reform the crimi- 
nal laws, the death of Shelley, and a thou- 
sand other happenings of less moment, in- 
cluding even the lighting of St. Paul's by 
gas and the carrying of the mails by steam 
vessels. 

We can say only that the time was one of 
awakening reforms; people began to be- 
lieve that the state of their neighbors might 
not be due entirely to some mysterious de- 
cree of Providence, but to the neglect of 
men's duties toward their fellows. Sir Rob- 
ert Peel's reform of the criminal code abol- 
ished the death penalty for a hundred 
crimes, and was not followed by any mark- 
ed increase in criminal offenses. Nor was 
the spirit of benevolence conhned to the 
national lines, for England busied herself 
with protestations against coercion of the 
peoples of Naples and Spain by the Rus- 
sian, Prussian and Austrian governments, 
and in subscribing to a fund for the benefit 
of the Greeks who had risen against Turk- 
ish tyranny. 

185 



In the Days of Scott 

Another question attracting public sym- 
pathy was whether workingmen's unions 
should be permitted to combine against 
their employers, and it was a main object of 
the reformers to repeal laws forbidding 
this. An attempt to reduce duties on im- 
ports also showed a tendency toward free 
trade. 

The historian Gardiner says : ''The bet- 
ter side of the revolutionary upturning, its 
preference of the natural to the artificial, 
and of the humble to the exalted, inspired 
the best work of Scott. . . . His skill in 
depicting the pathos and the humor of the 
lowly stood him in better stead than his 
skill in bringing before his readers the chiv- 
alry and the pageantry of the past." 

A zealous advocate of reform was 
Jeremy Bentham, who advocated universal 
suffrage, annual parliaments, codification of 
the laws, and other changes that he consid- 
ered necessary in order to secure ''the great- 
est happiness of the greatest number." This 
phrase, coined by Priestley, became a f avor- 

i86 



The Laird of Abbots ford 

ite with Bentham and his followers, who set 
in motion many of the reforms that have 
changed the very ideas of government. 

Such were the public questions occupying 
men's minds while Sir Walter was produ- 
cing "Peveril of the Peak," and '^Quentin 
Durward," '^St. Ronan's Well," and ''Red- 
gauntlet," of which only the third had to 
do with the writer's own times and sur- 
roundings. Meanwhile, the work of com- 
pleting his home went on, groves t)f trees 
were planted, and by the end of 1824 Ab- 
botsford, with its strange combination of 
mediaeval architecture, museum-furnishing, 
and the most modern improvements, might 
be looked upon as finished. Enormous as 
had been Scott's expenditure upon his lands 
and his castle, all seemed warranted by the 
returns from his novels. So soon as the 
publisher began to fear a f alling-off in sales, 
some lucky hit or fortunate shift of the wind 
of public favor would reassure him. 

It was thus with ''Quentin Durward." 
Though received without great enthusiasm 

187 



In the Days of Scott 

at home, the novel created a furore on the 
Continent, and once more the sun of pros- 
perity shone clearly. 

Nevertheless, the reception of "St. 
Ronan's Well" was not so encouraging as 
that of some of its predecessors ; and when 
"Redgauntlet'' also failed to reach an enor- 
mous sale. Sir Walter abated somewhat his 
zeal In novel-writing and gave more of his 
time to other labors, such as a new edition 
of his Swift's works, a number of reviews, 
and a tribute to the memory of Lord Byron. 
By this time, too, the woods of Abbotsford 
required thinning, and Lockhart gives us a 
picture of Sir Walter as a woodsman, trying 
in vain to acquire the use of the narrow 
American axe, and returning to the broader 
English pattern. Indoors, he superintended 
the painting and furnishing of his house, or 
decided where to place the rich gifts that 
poured in from generous friends — books, 
chairs, "articles of curiosity." 

So far as human foresight could reach, 
Scott saw no reason to fear the future. All 

i88 



The Laird of Abbot sf or d 

his early ambitions were realized. He had 
attained fame and fortune, was universally 
esteemed and praised; he had acquired the 
estates that he hoped to hand down to his 
posterity, and seemed capable in mind and 
in body to strengthen and consolidate the 
edifice he had reared to such a lofty height. 
It is not strange that he considered these 
years his happiest. 



189 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE END OF PROSPERITY 

At the end of the first quarter of the 
nineteenth century came a period of specu- 
lation. Scott calls 1825 *'the celebrated 
year of projects." Exactly what were the 
causes underlying it, what form it took, and 
what it meant to Englishmen of different 
ranks will be best appreciated by reading 
with more care than is usual among read- 
ers of fiction, Chapter XII. of Charles 
Reade's *Tove Me Little, Love Me 
Long." Here in living words and in pic- 
tures sketched with that great novelist's 
power can be seen the causes, the history, 
and the results of that great wave of specu- 
lation that swept over England, involving 
the most conservative houses, inducing the 

190 



The End of Prosperity 

most prudent to risk all they had and more, 
and, when it subsided, leaving widespread 
ruin that included Sir Walter Scott among 
its victims. 

The direct cause of Scott's financial 
wreck was the confidence that was reposed 
by him in his printer, Ballantyne, by Bal- 
lantyne in the publisher, Constable, and by 
both in Scott and his ability to produce 
books that would sell for enormous sums of 
money. 

But before the final crash came, Scott 
was to have one more delightful year at 
Abbotsford. The year 1825 began with 
preparations for the wedding of Scott's son, 
a grand ball being given that brought to the 
Scott home the most brilliant company that 
had ever come under its roof. Of the pleas- 
ures enjoyed by the guests we have a minute 
picture in the diary of Captain Basil Hall, 
whom Lockhart describes as *'a traveler 
and a savant, full of stories and theories, 
inexhaustible in spirits, curiosity and enthu- 
siasm." This diarywas no doubt based upon 

191 



In the Days of Scott 

notes taken at the time, as Lockhart men- 
tions Scott's annoyance on seeing Captain 
Hall's notebook in use during dinner; but 
though we may criticise the method of se- 
curing the facts, we must be glad to have 
the intimate pictures of life at Abbotsford. 
Thus we are told that Scott was never a 
restraint upon the young people of the 
household, who seemed ''perfectly at ease 
in his presence. His coming into the room 
only increases the laugh and never checks 
it — he either joins in what is going on or 
passes. No one notes him any more than 
if he were one of themselves." And this 
was because he made himself one of them. 
Captain Hall describes the betrothal 
ball, though without an idea of its signifi- 
cance to Walter Scott, Jr., and Lockhart 
makes the comment that, ''It was the first 
regular ball given at Abbotsford, and the 
last. Nay, I believe nobody has ever danced 
under that roof since then. I myself never 
again saw the whole range of apartments 
thrown open for the reception of company 

192 



The End of Prosperity 

except once — on the day of Sir Walter 
Scott's funeral." 

The couple were married in February, 
and went at once to live in Ireland, where 
the young husband, an officer of hussars, 
was stationed. Here, as we shall see. Sir 
Walter visited them in the following sum- 
mer. 

Though the novelist's earnings were very 
large, so were the demands upon his purse. 
In this year, 1825, besides all regular ex- 
penses, we find noted £3,500 advanced to 
secure his son's commission as captain, and 
£1,750 pledged to aid two friends in secur- 
ing the management of the Adelphi The- 
atre, — some $25,000 from which Scott 
himself received not a penny's worth of 
benefit. Every relative, every friend, to 
say nothing of a host of dependents, came 
confidently to share in the stream of golden 
guineas that flowed from the tip of Sir Wal- 
ter's magic wand, his unresting pen. 

The publisher. Constable, too, was ever 
imagining new tasks for the busy writer, 

193 



In the Days of Scott 

He came one Saturday to dine at Abbots- 
ford, and with enthusiasm outlined a grand 
scheme for making everybody buy books, 
and pay for them in small amounts at in- 
tervals — an early form of the modern in- 
stalment plan. Scott was keenly interested, 
seeing at a glance the possibilities, and after 
discussion agreed to use for publication in 
this method his projected *^Life of Napo^ 
leon," though it was first to appear in the 
regular way. The other literary work that 
busied him at this time comprised the two 
novels that began the group of four vol- 
umes called **Tales of the Crusaders." 
These were ''The Betrothed" and ''The 
Talisman," the first being considered a 
weakling that needed to lean for support 
upon the stronger brother. But, as Clem- 
ent Shorter says in his introduction to the 
Temple edition, "It is not certain that 
James Ballantyne's verdict as to the rela- 
tive merits of 'The Betrothed' and 'The 
Talisman' would be endorsed now. The 
schoolboy doubtless would prefer 'The 

194 



• • • 



The End of Prosperity 

Talisman/ the adult 'The Betrothed.' 
It demands no indulgence as an inferior 
work by a great master." Constable, soon 
after the two appeared, wrote Scott that 
general opinion declared the books of equal 
excellence; and even if we declare ''The Be- 
trothed" inferior to some of the Waverleys, 
we must recognize it as among the better of 
the series in purely literary quality as op- 
posed to popular merits. The success of 
these books was reassuring, and soon after 
their appearance Scott made his promised 
trip to Ireland to visit his son, sailing 
through the grand scenery of the Forth of 
Clyde, visiting at Drogheda the scene of 
the Battle of the Boyne, where a veteran of 
dragoons did the honors, and was delighted 
by Sir Walter's recitation of a ballad de- 
scribing the battle. The party reached 
Dublin on the 14th of July. 

Here Scott was received with every con- 
ceivable mark of ''homage and hospitality," 
not only from those of the upper ranks, but 
from the people generally. "When he en- 

^9S 



In the Days of Scott 

tered a street," Lockhart says, *'the shop- 
keepers and their wives stood bowing and 
curtsying all the way down." From Dub- 
lin excursions were made to the surrounding 
country, and then, on August ist, the party 
went to Edgeworthstown, the locality iden- 
tified with Maria Edgeworth, and also with 
the birth and schooldays of Goldsmith. 

Here the meeting with Miss Edgeworth 
called from Scott an expression of his belief 
in the higher worth of life as opposed to 
literature — too long to quote here, but val- 
uable as showing the great novelist's true 
estimate of the secondary place of art. So 
sane, so true, so forcible are countless say- 
ings of Scott that w^e can only sum up their 
effect upon us by declaring the man to be 
infinitely greater than the greatest of his 
books. His writing is only the daily cur- 
rent of his thoughts. In his diary, In the 
reports of his friends, in all the biographies, 
we see the same rich personality lavishing 
its wealth on all around. 

Though the misery of Ireland, the 
196 



The End of Prosperity 

squalid poverty, the human suffering de- 
pressed him, Scott keenly enjoyed the Irish 
humor and good-humor, and was hospitably 
received by almost every class. He kissed 
the Blarney Stone, and then returned to 
Dublin, from which on the i8th of August 
he left for England, meeting Canning and 
Wordsworth, and Professor Wilson at 
Windermere, where were '^brilliant caval- 
cades through the woods in the mornings 
and delicious boatings on the lakes by moon- 
light." Next, Wordsworth was visiter at 
Rydal Mount, and Southey at Keswick, and 
at last, after a tour Scott declared *^one 
ovation," he was again at Abbotsford, Sep- 
tember 1st. 

More can be said of this last happy year 
because those that followed were depress- 
ing and marked by few striking occasions. 
Lockhart tells how ihe return home was 
followed by a resumption of the hunts, the 
rides, the rambles, the visits that delighted 
the Laird of Abbotsford, and says the only 
change was in the workroom, for the **Life 

197 



In the Days of Scott 

of Napoleon" required hard reading of the 
great wagon-loads of books Constable had 
sent from town, and this Sir Walter found 
exhausting. *'It now often made me sorry," 
writes Lockhart, '^to catch a glimpse of him 
stooping and poring with his spectacles 
amidst piles of authorities — a little note- 
book ready in the left hand that had always 
used to be at liberty for patting Maida" — 
his pet hound. 

But there were bright days yet, and 
among these must be reckoned those that 
brought Thomas Moore to visit at Abbots- 
ford. Each poet pleased the other, and 
each has left record of his impressions in a 
description of the meeting, from which one 
longs to quote the friendly words that show 
an even kindlier friendship than existed be- 
tween Scott and Wordsworth and more 
sympathy than was between Scott and By- 
ron. Indeed, Moore relates that Scott, on 
the morning succeeding his coming, de- 
clared, ''Now, my dear Moore, we are 
friends for life!" and then took him for a 

193 



The End of Prosperity 

walk through the estate, while they dis- 
cussed the great abundance of poets at the 
time. Scott jokingly remarked, ^'Ecod! — 
we were in the luck of it to come before 
these fellows P' while Moore was convinced 
that "hardly a magazine published but con- 
tained verses which some thirty years ear- 
lier would have made a reputation/' 

If such was their opinion in 1825, one 
wonders what the gossiping couple would 
have said had their conversation taken 
place in our own day, eighty years later, 
when it is unusual for any person promi- 
nently before the public to refrain from pen 
and printers' ink. 

Coming after Moore was' another visitor 
of a very different type, a Mrs. Coutts, for- 
merly an actress and soon to become the 
Duchess of St. Albans, a good-natured 
woman in whom an American reader will 
feel no interest except as her reception ex- 
hibited Sir Walter's tact and kindliness in 
overcoming the prejudices of other lady 
visitors then at Abbotsford, and as Lock- 

199 



In the Days of Scott 

hart's account of her visit enables him to 
show that Scott's regard for wealth and 
rank was never exaggerated nor due to 
snobbery. The representative of an old 
Scotch family, and descendant of men dis- 
tinguished in Scottish annals, was in his 
eyes better worthy of his reverence than 
men of greater social influence and wealth ; 
and if he sought the society of the greatest 
of the kingdom, it was only because the best 
men and women of his time had sought his 
friendship. He certainly never was lacking 
in warmth of affection or in faithfulness to 
old friends, whatever their rank, power or 
station. 

A man who was worldly would have been 
crushed by the reverses that came upon Sir 
Walter Scott at the end of this last prosper- 
ous year. Lockhart came back from Lon- 
don with news of trouble in the financial 
and commercial world. But when the ru- 
mors were repeated, Scott treated them 
lightly, declaring them exaggerated. It 
was hard for him to believe that printers 

200 



The End of Prosperity 

and publishers had been so carried away by 
the mania of speculation as to invest in the 
stocks and securities of distant, foreign 
mining companies. But there had been 
time enough to recover from the long wars, 
the recent harvests were abundant, com- 
merce with America was active, money was 
plenty, and just at this time attention was 
drawn to the mineral wealth of South 
America. There was also an expansion of 
the currency owing to an issue of small 
bank-notes by country banks, as permitted 
by the government, and all enterprise was 
abnormally stimulated by this apparent 
plenty of money — really of paper notes 
based only upon the credit of the country 
bankers, who were, under the old system of 
banking, merely private business men issu- 
ing notes upon their own responsibility un- 
der very slight restrictions. To quote from 
Charles Reade's novel: **Men's faces shone 
with excitement and hope. The dormant 
hoards of misers crept out of their napkins 
and sepulchral strong-boxes into the warm 

201 



In the Days of Scott 

air of the golden time. The mason's chisel 
chirped all over the kingdom, and the ship- 
builders' hammers rang all round the coast; 
corn was plenty, money became a drug; 
labor, wealth; and poverty and discontent 
vanished from the face of the land. . . . 
New joint-stock companies were started in 
crowds as larks rise and darken the air in 
winter. . . . The mind can hardly con- 
ceive any species of earthly enterprise that 
was not fitted with a company, oftener with 
a dozen." 

But we can sum up the whole situation 
by saying that all England was blowing 
speculation bubbles. 

At last the foreign creditors began to 
present their paper for conversion into 
gold, confidence in paper securities was 
shaken, there came a run upon the banks, 
and a panic began. In less than six weeks 
seventy banks went down. The Bank of 
England itself barely weathered the storm, 
by the aid of foreign financiers, and by the 
use of some £i notes that had been with- 

202 



The End of Prosperity 

drawn from circulation, but not destroyed. 
The panic at length ceased, but Constable, 
Ballantyne and Scott were among its vic- 
tims. 

Into the controversy as to fixing the 
blame for the failures we shall not enter. 
It is unfair to accept the ex parte statement 
of either side, and it is certain that loose 
methods of conducting business, issuing 
notes and assuming obligations were adopt- 
ed and sanctioned by all parties, and when 
Constable's London correspondents. Hurst, 
Robinson & Co., failed, the whole chain 
snapped, and, as Lockhart admits, "Sir 
Walter Scott was too plainly consciofus of 
the strong tricks he had allowed his own 
imagination to play, not to make allow- 
ance" for the others. 

It was, however, some time before Scott 
could realize how great was the disaster in 
which he was involved. His diary, which 
begins in November, 1825, shows at first a 
confidence that he could pay all he owed. 
But week by week the deficits grew, all at- 

203 



In the Days of Scott 

tempts to patch over holes failed, and at 
last It was seen that all sums thrown Into 
the quagmire would be engulfed and yet the 
situation would remain as bad as before. 

Then began In Scott's journal a veritable 
Book of Lamentations, wherein Is deplored 
the failure of all his plans for the future, 
but especially the coming of distress to all 
those whom he had befriended — the depen- 
dents upon his estate, the cottagers to whom 
he had been the kindliest of landlords, his 
relatives, his friends. All this Is set forth 
day by day, with a sparkling force of com- 
ment that makes those anxious days live 
again. The pressure of evil was so great 
that when, owing to hopeful reports, It was 
for a time removed. Sir Walter's elastic 
spirit rebounds, and he writes a song that 
sets one's heart beating whenever It is sung. 
We read In his diary for December 22d: 
"The air of *BonnIe Dundee' running in 
my head to-day, I wrote a few verses to It 
before dinner, taking the keynote from the 
history of Clavers [Claverhouse], leaving 

204 



The End of Prosperity 

the Scottish Convention of Estates in 
1688-89. I wonder if they are good. Can't 
say what made me take a frisk so uncom- 
mon of late years as to write verses of free- 
will. I suppose the same impulse which 
makes birds sing when the storm has blown 
over." 

But, unfortunately, the *^storm" never 
did blow over, and in a few days Constable 
was revolving wild schemes for borrowing 
money on all his copyrights, on Sir Walter's 
credit, on anything and everything that 
would enable him to stave off his creditors. 
Time soon showed that the firms owed 
more money than any of them imagined, 
and when the debts were finally stated clear- 
ly it was found that Sir Walter was respon- 
sible for about £130,000, or $650,000. 

This was bad enough, but, although his 
Edinburgh creditors were inclined to be 
most lenient, there were among those who 
had lost by the failure some who talked of 
contesting the transferring of Abbotsford 
to Sir Walter's son upon his marriage. 



In the Days of Scott 

Consideration and inquiry revealed that 
there was no likelihood of overturning the 
conveyance, but Scott, in view of all the gos- 
sip, came to the resolution of asking only 
for time, trusting to pay all or the larger 
part of his debt by busy employment of his 
pen. 

If the power to create remained, he felt 
that he might hope to satisfy his creditors, 
but his consuming anxiety was lest his trou- 
bles should paralyze the creative imagina- 
tion, and thus leave him impotent. 



206 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE LAST YEARS 

ScOTT^s proposal to his creditors was in 
the nature of a compromise, and when they 
threatened to press him more closely than 
he thought fair he warned them that if they 
took to ''the sword of the law," he would 
**lay hold of the shield." It was therefore 
settled that he was to retain Abbotsford, 
live on his official salary and labor with his 
best diligence until the debt was settled; and 
under these conditions he resumed a course 
of life from which all but the drudgery had 
been removed. 

It is, of course, true that the whole mat- 
ter of Scott's financial distress was not of 
public concern, but when one remembers 
that in 1815 Parliament had granted to 

207 



In the Days of Scott 

Wellington £200,000 in addition to the 
grant of £400,000 he had received the year 
before, one is led to consider how much 
greater is the public gratitude to a soldier 
than to a poet and novelist, and to reflect 
whether the services of the general were of 
so much more value to the state and the 
people than those of the author of the 
Waverley Novels. Even if we admit the 
claims of Wellington, what shall be said of 
the sums that were being granted to ob- 
scure branches of the royal family, while 
the brain of Scott, the greatest poetic 
agency in the realm, was paralyzed by 
financial troubles for which his moral re- 
sponsibility was of the slightest? Merely 
as a matter of public policy, it would seem 
quite as important to expend public money 
in relieving Scott as in acquiring a collec- 
tion of pictures to found a national gallery, 
as was done at about this time by Parlia- 
ment. 

But there was no recognition then of the 
value of literature to the state, and the rest 

208 



The Last Years 

of Scott's life IS like that of a convict at 
hard labor, excepting only a trip to the Con- 
tinent, which may be likened to the placing 
of a criminal in an infirmary. Even while 
the question of ruin was in the balance, 
Scott kept on turning out the pages of 
* 'Woodstock,'' as well as acquiring and 
shaping the facts of his 'Xife of Napo- 
leon." When the novel was disposed of in 
April, 1826, it sold for £8,228, '*a match- 
less sale," Scott's diary records, ''for less 
than three months' work," and the interest 
of the public in the author's financial ruin 
helped in the book's success. A reflection 
of Scott's own troubles may be seen in the 
dignified grief of Sir Henry Lee, the Royal- 
ist, and in the faithful affection of his 
daughter. A favorite hound even, the dog 
Bevis, is a portraiture of Scott's own 
*'Maida," and we feel in the emotions of 
the owner of Woodstock at the coming of 
the Roundheads the suffering of the Laird 
of Abbotsford in the downfall of his own 
cherished ambitions. 

J209 



In the Days of Scott 

If his delineation of Cromwell is not in 
all respects satisfactory to those whom Car- 
lyle has led to regard the Protector as some- 
thing almost superhuman, it may yet be said 
to be notably fair when we consider Scott's 
Toryism, his love for the Stuart cause, and 
his state of mind when the book was writ- 
ten. The portrait of Charles II. is, on the 
whole, not unfairly drawn, when it is re- 
membered that before the Restoration 
Charles' personal popularity with his own 
adherents was proof he was capable of dis- 
interestedness, and might have shown the 
qualities exhibited in the novel. Besides 
his literary work, Scott found time to busy 
himself with political pamphleteering. 
Under the name **Malachi Malagrowther" 
be vigorously opposed the attempt of the 
English government to forbid the issuing 
of small bills by the Scotch banks, and bore^ 
no small part in the defeat of that measure. 
The writing of these pamphlets gave him 
pleasure, as he could give full rein to his 
feelings, and could exhibit his pluck so that, 

210 • 



The Last Years 

as he put it, * 'people will not dare talk of 
me as an object of pity — no more poor man- 
ing!" 

In May, 1826, Lady Scott died, and he 
writes : *Tor myself, I scarce know how I 
feel, sometimes as firm as the Bass Rock, 
sometimes as weak as the wave that breaks 
on it." Then within two weeks we see him 
at work again, laboring over the long ''Life 
of Napoleon" — which had grown to such 
compass as to equal four of his novels and 
which was finished within the two years 
that also saw, besides other work, the com- 
pletion of the ''Chronicles of the Canon- 
gate," including the "Highland Widow," 
"The Two Drovers" and "The Surgeon's 
Daughter," and a translation of the me- 
moirs of the Marchioness de la Rochejac- 
quelin. The biography of Napoleon is said 
to be vigorous and picturesque, but "far too 
long for the general reader, and not author- 
itative enough for the special student." It 
was popular enough, nevertheless, to bring 
in £18,000, or $90,000, and Scott's credi- 

2H 



In the Days of Scott 

tors in 1827 passed a vote of thanks for the 
indefatigable industry that had produced 
within so brief a time nearly $200,000. 

There was some doubt of the success of 
the **Chronicles of the Canongate," and 
after two shorter stories, *'My Aunt Mar- 
garet's Mirror" and 'The Laird's Jock," 
failed to satisfy his home critics, Scott be- 
gan 'The Fair Maid of Perth," which at 
first was called ''St. Valentine's Eve." By 
April, 1828, this novel was done and 
proved to hit the public taste. To the same 
year belongs the first series of the "Tales 
of a Grandfather," charming retellings of 
the stories of Scotch history, which were 
afterward continued to four volumes. In- 
deed, as regards the rest of his life, one can 
find room for little more than the names of 
the products that flowed from beneath his 
moving pen. He was editing all his novels 
anew, supplying introductions, comments 
and notes, and thus preparing for a new 
edition, which he calls his "Opus Mag- 
num," a complete repository of what he 

212 



The Last Years 

wished known of himself and his work so 
far as it relates to the novels. He was try- 
ing one sort of production after another in 
his distrust of his power of retaining public 
interest, and so far as possible he strove to 
continue that busy life the fall of his for- 
tunes had interrupted. 

The few journeys he made must now 
have the excuse of collecting material for 
his work, and every hour that he took from 
his desk seemed to him filched from his 
creditors. It would be interesting to know 
just what basis existed for the indebtedness 
that crushed Scott — whether it represented 
actual services rendered, or was not rather 
to be classed with the stock-gambling gains 
that have so little moral claim. If, how- 
ever, he considered himself bound, we can 
have no right to object. We may reflect, 
when in danger of becoming too sentimental 
over Scott's labors, that even at the worst 
he was in no harder straits than the vast 
majority of mankind who must earn their 
bread. If Sir Walter could not pay his 

213 



In the Days of Scott 

thousands of pounds, there are countless 
men who are equally unable to discharge 
debts that are much smaller. This Scotch 
baronet, getting toward sixty years of age, 
had enjoyed many long years of sunny pros- 
perity ; he had been especially blessed in be- 
ing free from those troubles of life that are 
hardest to bear ; he had been rich, courted, 
honored, admired; and, if his adversity 
touches our hearts, it is in great part due to 
the contrast betw^een the earlier brightness 
and the later gloom. 

In addition to money cares, domestic af- 
fliction, and oppressive labor, Scott strug- 
gled also against bodily ills and infirmities. 
Lockhart speaks of the R and R R marks 
in Scott's journal as indicating attacks of 
'^rheumatism" and ^'rheumatism redou- 
bled," but even days of suffering are also 
marked by the numbers indicating how 
many pages have gone to the completing of 
the literary work he has on hand. We have 
from a nephew of James Hogg, the poet, 
a sketch of Scott's working hours, which 

214 



The Last Years 

shows him busy at his tasks from six in the 
morning till six at night, only interrupted 
by meals served in the room of the Edin- 
burgh lodging-house where he then lived. 
Yet Scott -was the last to consider labor a 
curse, and is quoted as saying, even at a 
later date than this, ''I consider the capacity 
to labor as part of the happiness I have 
enjoyed." The bemoaning of his fate was 
never heard from his lips. He declared 
bravely, '^I have had as much happiness in 
my time as most men, and I must not com- 
plain now." 

The accounts given by those who then 
enjoyed his friendship confirm the impres- 
sions received from his own diary. There 
was still about him the same air of cheery 
industry, the same readiness for every task, 
and, if now and then he suffered, he kept his 
troubles to himself, as in the old times when 
dictating *'Ivanhoe" he had asked that the 
door of his study be closed lest the family 
should hear his groans of pain. 

So passed the years from 1826 to 1829, 
215 



In the Days of Scott 

with the production of the second series of 
*'The Chronicles of the Canongate," which 
was made up of the two volumes of *'The 
Fair Maid of Perth," the 'Tales of a 
Grandfather," and a few miscellaneous 
works. The next year saw the writing of 
'*Anne of Geierstein," which was to prove, 
in the opinion of the critics, the last produc- 
tion of the author in which *'the pervasive 
presence of his genius is to be distinctly 
felt." Though it can hardly be denied that 
the book contains single scenes worthy even 
of his best hours, one may admit that some 
portions tax the reader's patience in these 
modern days of lazy reading and '^fiction 
made easy." Clement Shorter, in his no- 
tice to the Temple edition, declares that 
'The Talisman" is unworthy of Scott, 
while asserting that the last three he wrote 
are free from signs of decadence; and the 
same critic, after giving a moving, if brief, 
account of how Ballantyne's criticism both- 
ered the laboring novelist, declares very 
truly and sensibly, that Scott's novels are 

2l6 



The Last Years 

read in the whole set. "We all," says he, 
**have our favorites, based very often on 
nationality, on the mood of the moment, on 
the particular environment in which we 
have read the particular story, based very 
rarely on any profound critical judgment.'* 
Would it be an impertinence to put the 
question. How many of Scott's readers are 
capable of passing a judgment of any value 
upon the relative rank of his novels ? Cer- 
tainly there are few things more amazing 
than the differences of opinion upon this 
subject; and one reads with blank amaze- 
ment the assertion that a gathering of lit- 
erary men once by secret ballot unanimously 
voted *'St. Ronan's Well" the best of the 
Waverley Novels. It might be possible 
without very deep research to find expert 
opinion declaring any one of the Waverleys 
to be **the best" of the series. It is even 
doubtful whether a reader who did not 
know the circumstances of the writing of 
**Count Robert oi Paris" and ''Castle Dan- 
gerous," would detect any such falling off 

217 



In the Days of Scott 

m the author's skill as placed these two 
books below several of those written in the 
time of his prosperity and happiness. 

Yet these last days were days of illness 
and suffering, as well as of money troubles. 
This illness had begun as long before as 
1818, when Scott was seized by a cramp in 
the right side, that for a number of years 
returned periodically. Gradually the sturdy 
Scotch laird was by successive illnesses worn 
almost to a skeleton. He lost his ruddy 
color, and his hair became white, and Rus- 
kin declares that after these first attacks 
there was lacking a certain joyousness and 
humor that had brightened the pages of his 
earlier novels. During two brief intervals 
of health a return of this lightsome spirit 
brightened again the pages of ^'Redgaunt- 
let" and "The Fortunes of Nigel"; but 
about 1823 had come a slight apoplectic 
stroke, greatly alarming Scott and his 
friends. But, to quote the biography by 
James Hay, "From 1826 to the year of his 
death the records of his existence are only 

218 



The Last Years 

the records of one long martyrdom," and 
yet during his sufferings he was compelled 
to work harder and for more hours than 
ever before. 

The result was a weakening of his men- 
tal power that first became evident to him 
by the failure of his memory. He failed 
to recognize the words of one of his own 
songs when it was sung to him at a party 
in London, and from this period is dated 
the beginning of his complete breaking 
down. Despite the interference of friends 
and physicians, Scott tried to make sheer 
will power do the work of imagination until 
even his publishers were compelled to warn 
him that he was overtaxing his mind. 

In 1830, his creditors had treated him so 
kindly that he felt willing to accept their 
gift of his library and furniture, and he 
retired to Abbotsford, at the same time re- 
signing his clerkship in the Court of Ses- 
sion. Against the wish of his publishers 
he began *'Count Robert of Paris," and we 
are told by his amanuensis that *'Scott 

219 



In the Days of Scott 

would at times pause in his dictation and 
look dazed, as if awakening out of a dream, 
or as a man mocked by shadows." But this 
failure of intellect as yet seemed only to 
affect his creative imagination, for his rea- 
soning powers in letter-writing or in con- 
versation remained nearly unimpaired. 

In 1 83 1 came other warnings that the 
end of his life was near, and, though he 
rallied from a third stroke of apoplexy and 
paralysis, he seemed to suffer even more 
from the declaration of his publishers — 
Cadell & Ballantyne — that ''Count Robert" 
was a failure. But the dying man was now 
in such a condition that he could hardly feel 
the shocks that were killing him, and, con- 
vinced that he had but a short time to live, 
he was eager to make every penny he could, 
in order to reduce his enormous liabilities. 

Everything combined to worry him. 
Cruellest of all, almost his last appearances 
in public, or at least in active life, were ac- 
companied by such brutal treatment by row- 
dies as to remain in Scott's memory to 

220 



The Last Years 

plague him on his dying bed. For reasons 
seeming good to himself, Scott was deeply 
interested In opposing the efforts of the re- 
forming politicians of his day. He be- 
Heved that the remedies they offered were 
in a way worse than the undoubted evils 
they hoped to cure. Excitement at the polls 
ran high, and the election days of that time 
were such as we may see them described In 
the pages of ^Tickwlck," or depicted In the 
stirring caricatures of Hogarth. 

Scott faced the mobs boldly, but was 
hissed and abused, and at an election in Jed- 
burgh was even pelted and spat upon, so 
that his friends compelled him to escape 
from the town by an obscure way. This oc- 
casion was the one that came to his mind In 
the delirium that preceded his death. This 
election was In many ways a serious irrita- 
tion to Sir Walter, and especially because it 
, was the means of alienating him from 
James Ballantyne — almost the last of the 
friends who had been with him from the 
beginning. '^Castle Dangerous,'' therefore, 

221 



In the Days of Scott 

was begun without Ballantyne's knowledge, 
and Lockhart took the place of Sir Wal- 
ter's lifelong critic. 

In order to verify his knowledge of the 
scenes of this novel, Scott made his last 
"raid" into the country, and then returned 
to give the last touches to the final Wav- 
erley Novels — for, as Scott said, quoting 
the motto Dr. Johnson had upon his watch 
face, and which Scott had cut on his sun- 
dial, '*The night cometh when no man can 
work." 

As a last resort, it was resolved to try the 
effect of foreign travel, and the very gov- 
ernment which Scott had opposed so bit- 
terly in the last election was prevailed upon 
by his friend. Captain Basil Hall (unknown 
to Scott), to furnish a frigate for taking 
the invalid to Italy. The novelist, how- 
ever, continued to work at odd tasks until 
the fall, and received certain old friends at 
Abbotsford, among whom we know best 
the novelist, G. P. R. James, and J. M. W. 
Turner, 



The Last Years 

Altogether it was a happy time, and all 
the happier because of a delusion on the 
part of Sir Walter that his great debts were 
at last settled, and that he was a free man. 
Then came news that Major Walter Scott, 
his son, would be able to make the conti- 
nental trip with his father, and on Septem- 
ber 17, 1 83 1, there was a grand dinner at 
Abbotsford quite in the old style, when the 
son of Robert Burns and his wife were the 
guests of honor, and the Laird of Abbots- 
ford presided once more at the head of a 
brilliant table. 

Three days later Wordsworth and his 
daughter came to go with Sir Walter to 
Newark, which gave rise to the poem, 
**Yarrow Revisited," and then, after these 
last pleasant days with this lifelong friend, 
Scott went to London, where he saw many 
scenes of mob violence, arising in conse- 
quence of the rejection of the Reform Bill, 
and was the object of many kindly and flat- 
tering attentions, but kept much to himself 
through a dislike to exhibiting his infirmi- 

^2^ 



In the Days of Scott 

ties to strangers. Here, awaiting favorable 
conditions for sailing, Scott remained until 
October 29th, and then the frigate bore 
him away toward Italy. 



224 



CHAPTER XV 

HIS CONTINENTAL JOURNEY AND DEATH 
AT ABBOTSFORD 

The kindness shown in placing a gov- 
ernment frigate at the disposal of the in- 
valid author inspired not only the officials 
of the Navy Department, but every man 
aboard the vessel. Officers and sailors alike 
seemed to consider it a valued privilege if 
they might do anything to soothe the har- 
assed mind of Sir Walter Scott. 

Since the vessel had been set aside for 
no other purpose than his journey, the com- 
mander did not hesitate to change his course 
whenever by so doing he could bring to Sir 
Walter's eyes a striking view or one that 
brought up historical reminiscences. At one 
part of the voyage the ship was moored 

225 



I 



In the Days of Scott 

near a strange volcanic island, which a few 
months before had suddenly been heaved 
up from the bottom of the sea. Sir Wal- 
ter and some of the passengers went ashore 
and rambled over the lava blocks that form- 
ed the substance of the island, and when the 
invalid's strength gave out a sturdy sailor 
took him up and carried him pick-a-back, to 
Sir Walter's great glee. This strange island 
was already crumbling, and soon after dis- 
appeared, remaining above the water no 
more than four months. 

Scott's interest in scenes and localities 
varied greatly. At one time his mind seem- 
ed wearied so that it was difficult to fix his 
attention, but at another he showed nearly 
all his old curiosity and intentness in the 
study of associations connected with places 
passed or visited. Thus, upon reaching 
Malta — where the whole ship's company, 
by the way, were subjected to a quarantine 
for nine days, because of the fear of an out- 
break of cholera in Europe (which took 
place not many months later in Edinburgh, 

S26 



His Last Journey and Death 

London and Dublin) — Scott was unwearied 
in collecting the romantic traditions and his- 
toric legends connected with the island. 
Evidently he saw in them materials for an- 
other romance as great as ^^Ivanhoe" or 
*'The Talisman." Nor is this mere suppo- 
sition, for it is a fact that he did a great 
deal of work upon the composition of such 
a romance, though he was unable to fin- 
ish it. 

Lockhart tells us that, like many invalids 
in the same general condition. It was diffi- 
cult for Scott to refrain from excesses at 
the table. It may be that his failing 
strength gave him a perverted appetite; 
but though he ate eagerly he was unable to 
digest his food and suffered greatly in con- 
sequence. The progress of his disease was 
shown especially in his failing memory, 
though it is possible that, because of the un- 
usual perfection of this faculty in Scott, his 
friends now saw more clearly the lapses 
from its best condition. But all who have 
given us any account of these last months of 

227 



In the Days of Scott 

Scott's life emphasize his unfailing gentle- 
ness and courtesy, a kindliness of soul which 
never, even in his own sufferings, forgot to 
consider the smallest claims upon him. 

When they reached Naples, Scott was 
greatly cheered by the welcome of his son 
Charles, then an attache of the British em- 
bassy in that city. By the courtesy of Fer- 
dinand, King of the Two Sicilies, the period 
of quarantine was cut short — a form of 
royal prerogative rather startling to the 
modern scientific sense — and the travelers 
were soon established in a Neapolitan 
palace. 

Here Scott was visited and courted by 
notables of whom we need make no list, 
although Lockhart records their names. In 
this city Scott remained about four months, 
leading the life of a distinguished visitor, 
being welcomed into the learned societies 
and studying the antiquities in the museums. 
Sir Walter also collected many old ballads 
and popular stories, showing that the in- 
stinct of his boyhood still coutrolled his 

2^8 



His Last Journey and Death 

age. The mass of these old documents was 
so great that when bound in vellum they 
formed about a dozen volumes. 

But, evidently, this was due rather to a 
lifelong habit than to a really keen interest 
in his surroundings. It was soon seen that 
the past was more alive to Sir Walter's 
mind than even the most interesting scenes 
of the present. As Lockhart puts it, ''He 
felt comparatively little interest in anything 
he saw unless he connected it somehow with 
traditions or legends, mediaeval history or 
romance, or traced some resemblance to the 
scenery of familiar associations at home." 
Only the impressiveness of Pompeii seemed 
to force his mind from its contemplation of 
the past. Sir Walter was carried every- 
where, from house to house, examining 
everything with great care, and every now 
and then audibly whispering, "The city of 
the dead — the city of the dead!" Perhaps 
something in this ruinous remnant of the 
great past reminded him of his own condi- 
tion. 

229 



In the Days of Scott 

During all this time there was a sem- 
blance of the old self that deceived even Sir 
Walter into the belief that he had useful 
years still before him. He went to the 
houses of his friends, enjoyed more of their 
hospitality than was good for him, and even 
took up the pen once more. He wrote many 
chapters upon his romance drawn from the 
history of the Island of Malta, and also 
composed a number of stories dealing with 
the exploits of the banditti of Naples. The 
handwriting of these works bore most elo- 
quent testimony of the author's condition, 
as it was hardly decipherable ; and yet Scott 
evidently believed his writing had the old 
power, for he expressed himself as sure that 
upon his return to Scotland he would be 
able to produce much good work for the 
press. 

There was one delusion beginning about 
this time which proved a veritable blessing. 
For some unaccountable reason, Scott be- 
came more and more possessed with the 
idea that the great mass of debt that had 

230 



His Last Journey and Death 

been crushing him to death, and under 
which he had struggled with the strength of 
a dying giant, had at last fallen from his 
back, and that he was free again, and free 
with honor. Of course, no one was cruel 
enough to awaken him from this blessed 
dream. In the conviction that he owed 
nothing. Sir Walter made a most touching 
speech. Convinced that his debts were paid, 
he said that he could once more have his big 
dogs about him ; that no one could complain 
that it cost too much to keep them. '^I am 
keeping my dogs," said he, '^as big and as 
many as I choose, without fear of re- 
proach." 

Another result of his sense of freedom 
was the revival of his longing to write po- 
etry, and upon Lockhart's asking him why 
he had ever given it up, with his usual hon- 
est directness he answered, '^Because Byron 
bet me," pronouncing the word ''beat" in 
that way. When Lockhart tried to combat 
this idea Scott insisted, naming the respects 
In which he considered his own work in- 

231 



In the Days of Scott 

ferlor to Byron's. *'He bet me out of the 
field in the description of the strong pas- 
sions, and in deep-seated knowledge of the 
human heart; so I gave up poetry for the 
time." 

Hereafter, all his speech was of the 
happy days he expected when he should 
once more find himself in Abbotsford, free 
of debt. Now and then, it is true, he would 
remember that the debts were not all paid ; 
but, fortunately, for the most part the 
delusion remained to make his last days 
happy. 

Scott left Naples on the i6th of April, 
and soon his diary abruptly ends, after re- 
cording the entry into Rome. 

A locality that interested him very much 
in the same way that Malta had done was 
Rhodes, and he began to collect material 
for a poem about it ; but a dear friend who 
had invited Scott to visit him at Corfu, was 
at this time ordered to India, and for some 
reason Scott's thoughts were turned home- 
ward. 

232 



His Last Journey and Death 

His longing for Abbotsford ever in- 
creased, and when he received the news of 
the death of Goethe on the 22d of March, 
remarking that ^^he died at home," Scott 
determined to turn once more to Scotland. 
A visit to Rome was made upon the way, 
but though here, as at Naples, he met the 
most agreeable society, Scott for the most 
part was so ill as to be almost apathetic, 
being interested only in the relics of the 
Stuarts, preserved in one of the Roman vil- 
las, and especially by Canova's monument 
to Charles Edward in St. Peter's. 

But that the failure of Sir Walter's facul- 
ties had not weakened the general cast of 
his thought, is evident from a conversation 
in which it was remarked that part of 
Goethe's popularity was owing to pieces 
that in his old age the German writer may 
have regretted. As to his own work, Scott 
said: "I am drawing near to the close of 
my career. I am fast shuffling off the stage. 
I have been perhaps the most voluminous 
author of the day, and it is a comfort to me 

233 



In the Days of Scott 

to think that I have tried to unsettle no 
man's faith, to corrupt no man's princi- 
ples." 

On the nth of May, Scott left Rome, 
and to one who has an affectionate interest 
in him the rest of his days are no more 
than an affliction. As Lockhart says, "their 
story can hardly be told too briefly." We 
seem to be with a dying friend. 

Although the rest of his continental trip 
included visits to Florence and Bologna, it 
was with difficulty that the dying man could 
be induced to take any interest in the sights 
of these historic towns. In crossing the 
Apennines he was reminded of Scotland 
by the snow and the pine trees, but, except- 
ing visits to *'The Bridge of Sighs" and the 
adjoining dungeons in Venice, nothing 
seems to have roused him from his general 
lethargic state. 

Unfortunately, owing to the stupidity of 
the medical tradition of the time, there 
seemed to be no idea of benefiting the dying 
invalid except by copious blood-letting, 

234 



His Last Journey and Death 

Whenever there was a break-down, re- 
course seems to have been had immediately 
to the lancet, and it is not strange that 
under this barbarous treatment Sir Walter's 
strength failed him more and more as he 
approached home. 

Even in his dying state, however, the 
beauty of the banks of the Rhine awaked 
Sir Walter's love of natural scenery, and 
his journey upon that river brought him 
great delight until after Cologne was 
passed and the more striking scenery left 
behind. During the rest of the journey, that 
his life was almost at an end became more 
and more evident. About the middle of 
June he was in London, but could only keep 
his bed in a state of stupor or delirium, now 
and then relieved by brief times when his 
mind was clear. During these sad days the 
street in front of the hotel where he was 
staying was thronged by a crowd of eager, 
sad inquirers, as much affected as if by the 
dangerous illness of a near relative. Those 
who went in and out were continually 

235 



In the Bays of Scott 

stopped and besought to give the latest 
news of the patient's condition. 

There having been spread a report that 
even at this time Scott was worried by his 
burden of debt, members of the govern- 
ment sent word to his relatives that if they 
would but name the sum necessary to clear 
off his obligations, it would be at once ad- 
vanced from the treasury. Inquiries from 
the greatest in the kingdom were frequent. 

At length, his constant yearning to re- 
turn to Abbotsford induced his physicians 
to consent to his removal, and the moment 
this was notified to him it seemed to infuse 
new vigor into his frame. On the 7th of 
July he was lifted from his bed and began 
his journey to his own home. Throughout 
the whole trip he received every possible aid 
ingenuity could devise; everything that 
could lend him comfort was foreseen and 
provided for. 

The approach to Abbotsford roused his 
dying faculties. He gained in strength 
with every mile, recognized the striking fea- 

236 



His Last Journey and Death 

tures of the country, and even began to talk 
about them, being greatly excited by the 
familiar scenes. When his house was 
reached and he was welcomed by the house- 
hold, and especially by the whining, fawn- 
ing dogs, he sobbed and laughed alternately 
until, exhausted, he fell asleep. 

Then came the days of waiting for the 
inevitable end, for all saw it was near, al- 
though the first effects of his return had 
been so favorable that the family were al- 
most encouraged to hope that he might for 
a time be his old self again. He was pushed 
about the grounds in a rolling chair. Lock- 
hart writes that when Sir Walter entered 
the library, *'he expressed a wish that I 
should read to him, and when I asked from 
what book, he said, ^Need you ask? There 
i^ but one,' and listened intently to part of 
the Gospel of St. John." To Scott's great 
delight he found himself able to follow the 
reading with perfect comprehension, and to 
recognize the familiar words and phrases; 
but the great change that had taken place in 

237 



In the Days of Scott 

him was shown at other times when he lis- 
tened to some of the poems of Crabbe that 
he knew word for word, commenting upon 
them as if they had been entirely new to 
him. 

At last the familiar surroundings re- 
minded the novelist that he was not at 
w^ork, and he insisted that he be wheeled 
into his study and brought to his writing- 
table. When his daughter had put the pen 
in his hand, he tried to close his fingers upon 
It, but it dropped from them. He sank 
back among his pillows, silent tears rolling 
down his cheeks. 

Not long afterward he was carried back 
to his room, which he hardly left again. 
For the brief time he lived his mind seemed 
to wander, and to dwell, with rare excep- 
tions, on serious and solemn things. He 
went over some of his talks about the 
grounds of Abbotsford; he recalled the 
painful scenes at the polls in Jedburgh; but, 
oftenest, he repeated fragments of the 
Bible, or bits from the Litany or Psalms, 

238 



His Last Journey and Death 

and quotations from the hymns of the Ro- 
man Church. 

It was now the early part of August and 
all could see that Sir Walter's death was 
only a question of a few days. On the 17th 
he gave almost his final sign of conscious- 
ness, speaking to Lockhart those last touch- 
ing words, ''My dear, be a good man — be 
virtuous, be religious — be a good man. 
Nothing else will give you any comfort 
when you come to lie here." 

On the 19th came his two sons, and on 
the 24th Sir Walter died. Those about his 
bedside remembered afterward that the day 
of his death was so still they could hear in 
the distance a sound Sir Walter had always 
loved — the gentle murmur of the Tweed 
River over its pebbles. 

The signs of affection and grief were 
universal. The whole population attended 
his funeral, and when came the moment of 
final parting, Lockhart tells us that ''one 
deep sob burst from a thousand lips." 



239 



CHAPTER XVI 

CONCLUSION 

The burial of Sir Walter Scott took 
place in St. Mary's aisle, a part of the 
ruined Dryburgh Abbey. The reason why 
this place was chosen for his grave was that 
the Abbey had once been the property of 
the Haliburtons, his ancestors on the moth- 
er's side. Like other church properties in 
Scotland at the time of the Reformation, 
the Abbey had been made part of a tem- 
poral lordship and conferred by King 
James, in 1604, upon the Earl of Mar. A 
descendant of this Earl sold the Abbey to 
the Haliburtons. In later years it came into 
the possession of the Erskine family. 

Howitt makes the remark that the re- 
verses attending the latter part of Scott's 

240 



Conclusion 

life seemed to continue after his death, be- 
ing directed against his long-cherished am- 
bition of founding an estate and a family. 
Before very many years, his daughter's sons 
followed him, leaving no representative of 
the name by male inheritance. The daugh- 
ter of Sophia Scott and of John Lockhart 
married J. R. Hope, and their child, Mary 
Monica, married J. C. Maxwell. By this 
family the name Scott was assumed, so that 
Walter Joseph Maxwell, Sir Walter's 
great-great-grandson, born in 1875, became 
the representative of the name. 

In regard to the events covering these 
latter years of Scott's failing powers and 
final illness, it may be said that the impor- 
tant acts showing progress in the art of 
government had to do with the freeing of 
the Roman Catholic population from the 
disabilities under which they had labored 
since the Reformation, and also with the at- 
tempts to secure pure elections and a more 
truly representative Parliament by means of 
the reform bills designed to do away with 

241 



In the Days of Scott 

the abuse known as rotten boroughs, where- 
by men came into Parliament as representa- 
tives of privilege rather than of any section 
of the people. 

In the general outdoor life there was a 
great increase in communication between 
different parts of the country. This was 
followed, and to a certain extent caused, by 
an improvement in the roadways such as 
the Invention of the Scotchman, Macadam, 
and also in the establishment of really prac- 
ticable railways. Steam, though still in its 
infancy, was proving its right to dominate 
transportation by sea and land, and was 
also being applied more and more widely in 
manufactures. 

Together with these Improvements, 
which had the usual effect of unsettling 
fixed conditions, came those disturbances 
among the people which always accompany 
readjustments in Industry. The first effect 
of Improved machinery being to displace 
laborers by simplifying processes and mak- 
ing fewer hands necessary. It is natural that 

2^2 



Conclusion 

those who lose the opportunity to make 
their living should look upon the introduc- 
tion of machinery as destructive of their 
interests. The result during these years of 
adjustment, from 1810 to the time of 
Scott's death, was a prevalence of rioting 
and disorders that broke out now in one 
part of the country and again in another, 
the wrath of the rioters being directed 
against whatever seemed likely to change 
the fixed conditions to which they had be- 
come used. 

In July of 1830, two years before Scott's 
death, there had been a short, sharp and 
decisive uprising of the people in France, 
which showed that the Revolution that had 
expelled the kings had not been put down 
by Napoleon or by the monarchs reigning 
after him. When Charles X. endeavored 
to reestablish absolute power an uprising 
followed that ended his monarchy in three 
days. Louis Philippe came back to the 
throne, but it was to bear the title '*King of 
the French," an acknowledgment that he 

243 



In the Days of Scott 

held his kingship not by hereditary right, 
but by the choice of the French people. 

As regards Sir Walter's attitude toward 
the political questions^ of the time there has 
been more than enough discussion. It is 
not strange that, as in those of the majority 
of mankind, there can be pointed out a 
marked inconsistency in his opinions. In 
speaking of a projected book that he aban- 
doned, it is said that he refused to write 
upon the subject because he found his feel- 
ings at variance with his judgment; and 
there is little doubt that his feelings as re- 
gards the social questions of his time must 
often have been at variance with his preju- 
dices, if not with his intellect. 

Lockhart traces most of the currents of 
Sir Walter's life to his early and intense 
interest in the chronicles of his ancestors. 
Having become familiar, as a little boy, 
with the history of his country, he thus 
acquired a taste for historical research that 
stored his mind with the materials he after- 
ward used in the creation of those systema- 

244 



Conclusion 

tized dreams of the past with which the 
world has ever since been entertained. As 
with his intellect, so with his prejudices. 
Beginning with sympathy for privilege and 
aristocracy, he never entirely rid himself of 
his predilection for blue blood; and, al- 
though his logical intellect, his far-sighted 
judgment, and his warm human heart, 
made him sympathize with the new attitude 
of statesmen toward the people, yet he was 
never able to range himself whole-heartedly 
against the upper orders. 

This attitude of mind is not so very un- 
common. In those with keen sensibilities 
and aristocratic tastes, particularly if a ten- 
der heart goes with refinement of character, 
there must always be a struggle between the 
dictates of justice and the claims of feeling. 
Many a page of Ruskin's owes its inconsis- 
tency to the opposition between his analytic 
intellect and his love of refinement. 

We have seen that not long before his 
failure the publisher Constable had laid 
before Scott plans for making literature a 

245 



In the Days of Scott 

universal possession. The times must have 
been ripening for some such development, 
for not many years after Scott's death ap- 
peared many publications to popularize lit- 
erature and learning. Charles Knight, born 
twenty years after Scott, bore a valiant part 
in the work of making good reading avail- 
able, and for him in 1844 George Craik 
wrote ^'Literature and Learning in Eng- 
land," a general critical account of English 
letters. Of Scott's poems this just and able 
critic wrote thus: ''His poems are all lays 
and romances of chivalry, but infinitely 
finer than any that had ever before been 
written. With all their irregularity and 
carelessness (qualities which in some sort 
are characteristic of and essential to this 
kind of poetry) that element of life in all 
writing which comes of the excited feeling 
and earnest belief of the writer is never 
wanting; this animation, fervor, enthusi- 
asm — call it by what name we will — exists 
in greater strength in no poetry than in that 
of Scott, redeeming a thousand defects, and 

246 



Conclusion 

triumphing over all the reclamations of 
criticism. It was this, no doubt, more than 
anything else, which at once took the public 
admiration by storm. All cultivated and 
perfect enjoyment of poetry or of any other 
of the fine arts, is partly emotional and 
partly critical; the enjoyment and apprecia- 
tion are only perfect when these two quali- 
ties are blended ; but most of the poetry that 
had been produced among us in modem 
times, had aimed at affording chiefly, if not 
exclusively, a critical gratification." In the 
narrative poems of Scott, there was the ap- 
peal to the emotions of the heart, all the 
interest and enticement of a novel, and '*all 
readers, even the least tinctured with the 
literary taste, felt also in a greater or less 
degree the charm of the verse and the poetic 
glow with which the work was all alive." 
After the appearance of these stirring 
poems, poets ceased to produce long works 
of a didactic or merely reflective character. 
When Scott abandoned the poetic field to 
Byron, he carried to prose fiction the same 

247 



In the Days of Scott 

qualities, the same ease and freedom, that 
had won readers for his verse. 

Carlyle, before he had attained success, 
said some bitter things in a much-discussed 
essay on Scott. It is animated, one cannot 
help feeling, by an unfriendly spirit, and 
some have sought to account for this by a 
slight it is said Carlyle suffered through the 
failure of Scott to acknowledge a gift sent 
through Carlyle from Goethe. At all 
events, there is an evident attempt to under- 
value Scott's work, to dub it ''hasty'' writ- 
ing, while admitting it is the best of that 
class. The novels are said to be good 
enough for the lazy reader, and compari- 
sons to Scott's disadvantage are made with 
Shakespeare and with Goethe. 

Nor is Carlyle the last, though he may 
be the greatest, who has sat down to the 
examination of the Waverley Novels in an 
endeavor to excuse himself from allowing 
them to be masterpieces. And yet, from 
the critics who are under no obligation to be 
literary, the acknowledgment of Scott's su- 

248 



Conclusion 

premacy Is hearty and unstinted. Thus 
Gladstone, who, as a student of Homer, 
was certainly in no danger of admiring 
meretricious work or trivial tale-telling, was 
never tired of rereading the Waverley 
Novels, declared them to be immortal, and 
named iEschylus as the only other who 
could have written *'The Bride of Lammer- 
moor," and Shakespeare as the only writer 
capable of producing the equal of **Kenil- 
worth." Considering that these two names, 
with that of Homer, make up the greatest 
triad in fiction, it is difficult to frame higher 
praise for Scott's work. We shall learn the 
opinion of another great critic from a care- 
fully written letter of John Ruskin's to a 
student at Edinburgh University. We quote 
only a part : 

''Best Hundred Books ! Have you ever 
read yet one good book well ? For a Scots- 
man, next to his Bible, there is but one 
book — his native land ; but one language — 
his native tongue ; the sweetest, richest, sub* 

249 



In the Days of Scott 

tlest, most musical of all the living dialects 
of Europe. Study your Burns, Scott and 
Carlyle. Scott, In his Scottish novels only, 
and of those only the cheerful ones, with the 
'Heart of Midlothian,' but not the 'Bride 
of Lammermoor,' nor the 'Legend of 
Montrose,' nor the 'Pirate.' 

"Here is a right list: 'Waverley,' 'Guy 
Mannering,' 'The Antiquary,' 'Rob Roy,' 
'Old Mortality,' 'The Monastery,' 'The 
Abbot,' 'Redgauntlet,' 'Heart of Midlo- 
thian.' Get any of them you can in the old 
large-print edition when you have a chance, 
and study every sentence in them. They are 
models of every virtue in their order of lit- 
erature, and exhaustive codes of Christian 
wisdom and ethics. I have written this note 
with care. I should be glad that you sent a 
copy of it to any paper read generally by 
the students of the University of Edin- 
burgh, and remain, always faithfully yours, 

"John Ruskin." 

Fitzgerald, the translator or composer of 
250 



Conclusion 

**Omar Khayyam," wrote thus in a letter to 
a friend, the capitalizing being his own : 

'*I am now a good deal about in a new 
Boat I have built, and thought (as Johnson 
took Cocker's Arithmetic with him on 
travel, because he shouldn't exhaust it) so 
I would take Dante and Homer with me, 
instead of books which I read through di- 
rectly. I took Dante by way of slow Diges- 
tion: not having looked at him for some 
years ; but I am glad to find I relish him as 
much as ever. He atones with the sea, as 
you know does the Odyssey — these are the 
Men! 

*'I cannot get on with Books about the 
Daily Life which I find rather insufferable 
in practice about me. Give me People, 
Places, and Things, which I don't and can't 
see; Antiquaries, Jeanie Deans, Dalgettys, > 
etc. As to Thackeray's, they are terrible; 
I look at them on the shelf, and am half 
afraid to touch them. . . . 

''Of course, the Man must be a Man of 
251 



In the Days of Scott 

Genius to take his Ease; but if he be, let 
him take it. I suppose that such as Dante 
and Milton took it far from easy; well, they 
dwell apart in the Empyrean ; but for Hu- 
man Delight, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Boc- 
caccio and Scott." 

At a recent banquet of the Sir Walter 
Scott Club, of Edinburgh, the retiring pres- 
ident. Sir Henry Craik, delivered an ad- 
dress in which he spoke of Scott's more 
notable works, saying, in regard to the 
Waverley Novels: ''Here, above all the 
rest of his works, he speaks to all humanity, 
but he speaks to each man alone, to each 
hour and to each period of his life. He 
touched us in our boyhood; he made our 
hopes higher; he warmed our best im- 
pulses ; he made our day-dreams seem more 
real." 

In regard to the criticism often made 
upon these books, that they are not in all 
respects true to history, we may repeat Ma- 
caulay's defence and claim that Scott has 

252 



Conclusion 

fairly supplemented history by a series of 
brilliant pictures, put together out of a mass 
of material of which the historians can 
make no use. 

Hudson, in his 'Tife of Scott," claims 
that Scott taught us to believe that the men 
and women of the past were of a nature 
akin to our own, and thereby did much to 
bring to life, or at least assist in the growth 
of, the modern historic spirit. 

We are glad to read, in a recent article 
of Mr. Mabie's, a merited rebuke to the 
facile modern critics of Scott's workman- 
ship. *'There is something humorous," he 
remarks, ''in the determined attitude of a 
little group of very modern, deft, expert 
framers of sentences toward this large, 
friendly, affluent mind; this warm, gene- 
rous, courteous spirit, who shares with 
Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, Dumas and 
Victor Hugo, the indifference of the posses- 
sor of a great fortune to the details of his 
bequests to his kind." 

In order that we may realize the true 
253 



In the Days of Scott 

meamng of an author's immortality, we 
shall do well to consider it just after read- 
ing his biography, and while the impression 
of his death is still fresh in our minds. No 
one who has the usual amount of human 
sympathy can read so intimate a biography 
as that of Lockhart's, and follow the fail- 
ure of Sir Walter's faculties through those 
last sad days at Abbotsford, without being 
deeply moved. One closes the book with a 
strong feeling of personal bereavement. 

If, while this feeling is still dominant, 
one takes from the shelves a novel of the 
strong period of Sir Walter's years of pro- 
duction — such, for instance, as ' Waverley" 
or '*Guy Mannering" — at once the sense of 
deprivation is conquered by the vitality 
speaking from the living pages of the book. 
The sadness felt for the loss of the author's 
personality disappears, and the reader rea- 
lizes that, for him. Sir Walter Scott is still 
living, breathing, speaking, as In his old, 
glorious days. 

No one would deny that all which is most 

254 



Conclusion 

valuable in any life is comprised in its 
power to influence others. In so far as any 
human soul helps those around to live to 
better purpose and rise to higher things, has 
the existence of that' soul been justified. 
And this influence upon others than himself 
is exerted for the most part by an author 
through his books. Great as may be the 
direct power of his personality, it must be 
immeasurably inferior to the manifold mul- 
tiplication of this power through his written 
work. When the personal influence dies, 
the impersonal, indirect — and this is by far 
the most important part of a great author's 
life — outlives himself, and can die only if 
his books cease to be held among the Im- 
mortals. 

It may be admitted that it is yet too early 
for the final verdict upon the works of 
Scott; but it has been shown by an able critic 
that there is always an intimation of coming 
immortality in the case of books destined 
to endure. Unless all signs fail us, we see, 
In his Waverley Novels at least, the char- 

^5S 



In the Days of Scott 

acteristics that stamp works of literature as 
certain to live. They appeal to the deep 
and eternal emotions. They depict, it is 
tme, phases of life that have passed away, 
but in their characters there is portrayal of 
the permanent elements of human nature. 
They have approved their claim to popu- 
larity in foreign lands, as well as in the na- 
tive land of their author; they have that 
breadth of view that will insure their ap- 
preciation even after the conditions of life 
contemporary with them have passed away. 
While the future may deny to Scott a 
place among the highest immortals, with 
the supreme poets, it is not likely that any 
literature will ever show many names wor- 
thy to be ranked higher than his. And even 
if no written lines of his were preserved, 
the story of his life would yet rank him 
high among those who have lived nobly and 
died bravely. 

THE END 
256 



APPENDIX 



CHIEF DATES RELATING TO SCOTT'S LIFE 
AND WORKS 



DATE 


SCOTT'S LIFE 


OTHER EVENTS. 


LITEEART 
WOEK3 


1771 


Birth of Scott, Aug. 15th. 


Death of Gray. 


Encyclopae- 
dia Britan- 


1773 


lameness begins. 


Boston "Tea 

Party." 
Birth of Coleridge. 
Trial of Warren 

Hastings. 


nica begun. 




Scott sent to Sandyknowe. 


Johnson and Bos- 


Poems of 




leams '* Hardyknute." 


well in Edin- 


Robert Fer- 






burgh, on their 


guson. 






tour. 








Death of Earl of 








Chesterfield. 




1774 




Birth of Southey. 


Goethe's 






First Continental 


"Sorrows of 






Congress. 


Werther." 






Death of Gold- 


Chester- 






smith. 


field's Let- 
ters. 


1775 


Sent to Bath for a year. 


Battles of Lexing- 


Sheridan's 




learns to read. 


ton, Bunker Hill, 


" Rivals.'* 




sees "As You Like It." 


etc. 

Birth of Charles 
Lamb. 

Birth of Jane Aus- 
ten. 




1776 


To Edinburgh, and after- 


American Revolu- 


Thomas 




ward to Sandyknowe. 


tion. 


Paine's 






Cook begins third 


" Common 






voyage. 


Sense." 






Garrick leaves the 


Gibbon's 






stage. 
Death of David 


"Decline of 






Roman Em- 






Hume. 


pire." 
Adam 
Smith's 
"Wealth of 
Nations." 



257 



Appendix 



DATE 



1777 



1778 



1779 



1780 



1781 



scott's life 



Visit to Edinburgh, and to 
Prestonpans. 



Scott at school in Edin- 
burgh, and at Kelso, un 
til he enters, university. 



OTHER EVENTS 



Washington at 
Valley Forge. 

Birth of Thomas 
Campbell. 

United States 
Flag adopted. 

Battle of Sara- 
toga. 

Birth of Henry 
Clay. 

John Paul Jones 
on the Scotch 
and English 
coasts. 

Death of Earl of 
Chatham. 

Massacre of Wyo 
ming. 

Cook discovers 
Sandwich Is- 
lands (Hawaiian 
Islands). 

Deaths of Voltaire 
and of Rousseau 

" No popery" riots 
in Scotland. 

Captain Cook 
killed. 

Battle of Stony 
Point. 

Siege of Gibraltar. 

Death of Garrick 

Birth of Hum- 
phrey Davy. 

Birth of Thomas 
Moore. 

Major And re 
hanged. 

Gordon riots m 
London. 

Torture of prison- 
ers abolished in 
France. 

Death of Sir Wil- 
liam Blackstone 

Surrender of Com- 

wallis. 
Death of Lessing. 
Herschel discovers 

Uranus. 
First Sunday- 

school. 



LITERARY 
WORKS 



Sheridan's 
''School for 
Scandal." 



258 



Johnson's 
" Lives of 
the Poets." 
Burney's 
"Evelina." 
Lessing's 
'' Nathan the 
Wise." 



Appendix 



DATE 


SCOTT'S LIFE 


OTHER EVENTS 


LITEEAEY 
WORKS 


1782 


Meets James Ballantyne. 




Scott's 
first poem, 
"Etna." 
Cowper's 
poems pub- 
lished. 


1783 


At Edinburgh University. 


Treaty of Paris. 


Scott's 






End of American 


poems, "Ed- 






Revolution. 


inburgh" 






Washington's 


and "Setting 






"Farewell Ad- 


Sun." 






dress." 








Birth of Washing- 








ton Irving. 




1784 


Learns French. 


First lifeboat. 

First balloon. 

First newspaper in 
United States. 

Letter sent by first 
mail-coach. 

Death of Dr. John- 
son. 




1785 




Birth of David 


Cowper's 
"Task." 






Wilkie. 






Affair of the 








" Queen's Neck- 








lace." 








John Howard vis- 








its hospitals. 




1786 


Apprenticed to his father. 


Death of Gilbert 


Burns's 




Meets Robert Burns. 


Stuart. 


poems pub- 






Death of Thomas 


lished, Kil- 






Tyrwhitt. 


marnock 






The "Brown Bess" 


edition. 






musket. 




1787 




Birth of Guizot. 


Home 






Australia a penal 


Tooke's "Di- 






settlement. 


versions of 






Swedenbo r g i a n s 


Purley." 






begin anti-ma- 








chine riots. 




1788 


Attends civil law classes. 


Birth of Byron. 


Writings of 




Resumes friendship with 


Death of Prince 


Mme. do 




James Ballantyne. 


Charles Stuart. 


Stael. 




Interested in German 


Discontent in 






romances. 


France. 

Regency proposed, 
George III being 
incompetent. 

Death of BufEon. 




1789 




Birth of J. Feni- 


Howard on 






more Cooper. 


Prisons. 






Mutiny of the 








"Bounty." 





259 



Appendix 



DATE 


SCOTT'S LIFE 


OTHEB BVBNTS 


LITERAET 
WOEKS 


1789 




French Revolu- 
tion begins. 

Capture of Bel- 
grade. 

Deaths of Thomas 
Day, Silvio Pel- 
lico, Mary R. 
Mitford. 

Washington presi- 
dent. 

Deaths of John 




1790 




BoswelPs 






Howard, Adam 


''Life of 






Smith, Benjamin 


Johnson." 






Franklin. 


Malone's 






B u r k e's speeches 


'' Shake- 






against French 


speare." 






Revolution. 




1791 


Elected to*' Speculative 




Burke's " Re- 




Society." 




flections on 




Apprenticeship expires. 




French Rev- 
olution." 
Paine's 








" Rights of 
Man." 


1792 


Called to the Bar. 


French Republic 


Rogers's 




Excursions to Liddesdale. 


declared. 


'' Pleasures 




Began study of G©rman. 


Wordsworth goes 


of Memory.'* 




Member of Society of Ad- 


to France. 






vocates. 






1793 


Scott's first love-affair. 


Execution of Louis 






Visits Galloway. 


XVI. 
France and Eng- 
land at war. 




1794 




End of Reign of 


Godwin's 






Terror. 


"Caleb Wil- 






Death of Gibbon. 


liams." 
Radcliffe's 
•' Mysteries 
ofUdolpho." 
Paine's ''Age 
of Reason." 
Paley's " Ev- 
idences of 




• 




Christian- 
ity." 


1795 




Treaty of Bale. 


Ireland 

Shakespeare 

forgeries. 


1796 


Visited Montrose. 


Death of Robert 


Translations 




Translates Burger. 


Burns. 


of "Lenore" 




Writes ballads. 


Birth of John 


and " WiJd 






Keats. 


Huntsman." 



z6q 



Appendioo 



DATE 


bcott's life 


OTHER EVENTS 


lilTEEAKY 
WOKK8 


1796 






Coleridge's 
poems. 
Southey's 
"Joan of 
Arc." 


1797 


Visit to Carlisle. 


Napoleon's Italian 






In yeomanry. 


campaign. 






Visits the English lakes. 


Deaths of Edmund 






Marriage. 


Burke and Hor- 






Lives in George's street, 


ace Walpole. 






Edinburgh. 


John Adams presi- 
dent. 
Battle of the Pyr- 




1798 




"Thomas the 






amids. 


Rhymer." 
" Goetz von 
Berlichin- 
gen" trans- 
lated. 














Words- 








worth's 








" Lyrical 
Ballads." 














Malthus 








on "Popula- 








tion." 


1799 


Sheriff Deputy of Selkirk- 


Napoleon in Syria. 


"Apology for 




shire, at Ashestiel. 


Death of George 


Tales of Ter- 




Last of ''Liddesdale 


Washington. 


ror." 




Raids." 




Campbell's 




Birth of Sophia Scott. 




" Pleasures 
of Hope." 


1800 




Union with Ire- 


"Eve of St. 






land. 


John." 






Napoleon First 


Moore's 






Consul. 


"Odes of 






Water decompos- 


Anacreon." 






ed by galvanic 








battery. 








Battle of Marengo. 








Birth of Macaulay. 








Deaths of Cowper 








and Blair. 




1801 


Walter Scott, Jr., born. 


Steamboat on 


Lewis's 






Thames. 


" Tales of 






Battle of Copen- 


Wonder." 






hagen. 








Roman Church re- 








stored in France. 








Thomas Jefferson 








president. 








Population of 








England about 








10,000,000. 




1802 




Death of Burns. 


Edinburgh 
Review be- 






Toussaint Louver- 






ture to France. 


gins. 



261 



Appendix 



DATE 


SCOTT'S LIFE 


OTHER EVENTS 


LITERARY 
WORKS 


1802 




Birth of Victor 


"Minstrelsy 






Hugo. 


Scottish 






Jenner's vaccina- 


Border." 






tion. 








Subjugation of In- 








dia begun. 




1803 


Scott a volunteer. 


Birth of Emerson. 


Malthus's 




birth of Anne Scott. 


Death of Land- 


" Essay on 




Birth of Marjorie Fleming. 


seer. 


Popula- 






Percussion-lock 


tion." 






invented. 








Louisiana pur- 








chase. 




1804 


Sells Rosebank. 


Mungo Park's ex- 


"SirTris- 






ploration. 


trem " 






Napoleon empe- 


edited. 






ror. 








Bible Society be- 








gun. 
Trevithick's loco- 








motive. 








Decatur burns 








the ''Philadel- 








phia." 
Birth of Nathaniel 
Hawthorne. 




1805 


Partner of Ballantyne. 


Battles of Ulm, 


Beginning of 




birth of Charles Scott. 


Trafalgar, Aus- 


" Waverley." 






terlitz. 


"Lay of Last 
Minstrel." 


1806 




Deaths of Nelson, 


"Civil War 






Pitt and Fox. 


Memoirs " 






Battles of Jena 


edited. 






and Auerstadt. 


Ballads and 
Lyrics. 


1807 


At Lasswade. 


Battle of Copen- 
hagen. 
Streets lighted 














with gas. 








Peace of Tilsit. 








Birth of Longfel- 








low. 








Birth of J. G. 








Whittier. 




1808 




Napoleon's Span- 


" Marmion." 






ish campaign. 


Edition of 






Riots in Manches- 


Dryden. 






ter. 


" Queenhoo 






Death of Richard 


Hall" 






Porson. 


edited. 






Dalton's "Atomic 








Theory." 




1809 




Battle of Corunna. 


Quarterly 






Death of Haydn. 


Review be- 






Napoleon divorces 


gun. 






Josephine. 





262 



Appendix 



DATE 


SCOTT'S LIFE 


OTHEE EVENTS 


LITERARY 
WORKS 


1809 




Birth of Lincoln. 


Sadler Pa- 






James Madison 


pers edited. 






president. 


Somers 






Birth of Edgar A. 


Tracts 






Poe. 


edited (till 
1815). 


1810 


Death of Willi am in a 


Sir Francis Bur- 


"Lady of the 




Forbes. 


dett riot. 


Lake." 






Cobbett imprison- 


English Min- 






ed. 


strelsy ed- 
ited. 


1811 


Scott improving Abbots- 


Regency of Prince 


''Vision of 




ford. 


of Wales. 


Don Roder- 






Riots at Notting- 


ick." 






ham. 


Secret His- 






Battle of Tippe- 


tory of James 






canoe. 


I edited. 




Death of *'Pet Marjorie," 


Birth of Wendell 






Dec. 19. 


Phillips. 




1812 


Scott moves to Abbotsford. 


War of 1812. 

Napoleon's Rus- 
sian expedition. 

Death of Horne 
Tooke. 

Luddite riots. 

Battle of Sala- 
manca. 




1813 




Naval battles. 


"Rokeby.'» 






English and Am- 


Warwick 






erican navies. 


Memoirs ed- 






Battles of Leipsic 


ited. 






and Dresden. 


''Bridal of 






Birth of David 


Triermain." 






Livingstone. 








Southey, Poet 








Laureate. 




1814 




Norway ceded to 


Edition of 






Sweden. 


Swift. 






Allies enter Paris. 


"Letting of 




J 


Napoleon abdi- 


Humors" ed- 






cates, and goes 


ited. 






to Elba. 


"Waverley." 






Death of Charles 


"Border An- 






Dibdin. 


tiquities " 
(till 1817). 


1815 


Visit to London. 


Corn Laws intro- 


"Lord of the 




Meeting with Byron. 


duced. 


Isles." 






Napoleon's " Hun- 


'^Guy Man- 






dred Days." 


nering." 






Battle of Waterloo 


"Waterloo." 






Napoleon sent to 


Someryille 






St. Helena. 


Memoirs 






Davy's safety 


edited. 






lamp. 








Battle of New 








Orleans. 





263 



Appendix 



DATE 


SCOTT's lilFB 


OTHER EVENTS 


LITERARY 
WORK3 


1816 




Buying of Elgin 


"Paul's Let- 






Marbles. 


ters." 






Death of R. B. 


"The Anti- 






Sheridan. 


quary." 






Bread riots gen- 


"Tales of My 






eral. 


Landlord," I 
("Black 
Dwarf," 
"Old Mortal- 
ity.") 


1817 


Illness begins. 


Spain agrees to 


" Harold the 




Washington Irving visits 


give up slave 


Dauntless." 




Scott. 


trade. 


Moore's 






James Monroe 


"Lalla 






president. 


Rookh." 






Seminole war. 


Blackwood's 






Birth of Henry D. 


Magazine 






Thoreau. 


begins. 

'* Rob Roy." 

"Tales of My 


1818 




"Wager of Battle" 






invoked. 






Death of Warren 


Landlord," 






Hastings. 


II ("Heart 






Death of Matthew 


of Midlo- 






George Lewis. 


thian.") 






Death of Sir Philip 








Francis. 




1819 




Deaths of *' Peter 


"Tales of My 






Pindar" and 


Landlord," 






James Watt. 


III ("Bride 






Birth of Victoria. 


of Lammer- 






"Wager of Bat- 


moor," "Le- 






tle" abolished. 


gend of 






First crossing of 


Montrose.") 






Atlantic by 


"Visionary,'* 






steamship "Sa- 


1, 2, 3. 






vannah." 


Description 






Riots in Manches- 


of Regalia. 






ter. 


Shelley's 






Birth of J. R. Low- 


"Cenci." 






ell. 








Birth of John Rus- 








kin. 




1820 


Scott made Baronet. 


Death of Benja- 


"Ivanhoe." 






min West. 


"Monas- 






Trial of Queen 


tery." 






Caroline. 


"Abbot." 






Death of Joseph 


Haliburton 






Rodman Drake. 


Memoirs ed- 
ited. 
Carey's 
Poems edit- 
ed. 

Shelley's 
"To a Sky. 
lark." 



264 



Appendix 



DATE 



1821 



1822 



SCOTT'S LIFE 



Illness, 



1823 



1824 



1825 



1826 



1827 



Clydesdale Excursion. 
Miss Edgeworth at Abbots- 
ford. 



Death of Thomas Scott. 
Abbotsford finished. 



Marriage of Walter Scott, 

Jr. 
Scott visits Ireland. 



Visits Wordsworth. 
Visits Paris. 

Death of Lady Scott. 



Waverley authorship con- 
fessed. 



OTHER EVENTS 



Death of Napo- 
leon. 

Death of John Bal- 
lantyne. 

Coronation George 
IV. 

Death of Keats. 



Death of Shelley 
George IV visits 

Scotland. 
Death of William 

Herschel. 
Birth of U. S. 

Grant. 



Death of Edward 
Jenner. 

Death of John 
Kemble. 

Peel reforms crim- 
inal law. 

Upsetting and re- 
placing of the 
*'LiOgan" at 
Land's End. 

Death of Byron. 

Death of Mrs. Bar- 
bauld. 

Repeal of Combi- 
nation Act. 

Death of Fuseli. 

Beginnings of 
bank failures. 

J. Q. Adams presi- 
dent. 

Bank failures. 

Death of Flax 
man. 

Death of Jeffer- 
son. 



Death of William 
Blake. 



LITEEAEY 
WORKS 



ed- 



Byron's 
''Cain." 
Novelists' 
Library edit- 
ed (tilll824). 
Franck's 
Memoirs 
ited. 
'' Kenil- 
worth." 
'^The 
Pirate." 
Fountain- 
hall Diary 
edited. 
" Halidon 
Hill." 
Memoirs 
Civil War 
edited. 

Fortunes 
of Nigel." 
'•Peveril of 
the Peak." 

" Quentin 
Durward." 



St. Ronan's 
Well." 
" Redgaunt- 
let." 

Tales of Cru- 
saders ("Be- 
trothed," 

Talis- 
man"). 



"Provincial 

Antiquities 
ofScotland." 
''Thoughts 
on Change of 
Currency." 
" Wood- 
stock." 
" Life of Na- 
poleon Buon- 
aparte." 



265 



Appendix 



DATE 


SCOTT'S LIFE 


OTHER EVENTS 


LITERARY 
WORKS 


1827 






Chronicles of 
Canongate, I 
("Highland 
Widow," 
"Two Drov- 
ers," "Sur- 
geon's 
Daughter"). 
La Roche- 
; acquelin 
Memoirs. 


1828 






Prose works 
collected. 
"Tales of a 
Grand- 
father," L 
Religious 
Discourses. 
Chronicles of 
Canongate, 
II ("Fair 
Maid of 
Perth"). 


1829 


Death of Thomas Purdie. 


Burke the murder- 


"Tales of a 






er executed. 


Grand- 






Death of Sir Hum- 


father," II. 






phrey Davy. 
Death of Sir 


Ballantyno 






Memoirs 






Thomas Law- 


edited. 






rence. 


"Anne of 






Death of Geo. IV. 


Geierstein." 






Andrew Jackson 

president. 
Accession of Will- 




1830 


Stroke of paralysis. 
Visit of J. M. W. Turner. 


"Tales of a 




iam IV. 


Grand- 






Liverpoo 1-Man- 


father," III. 






chester Railway 


"Doom of 






opened. 


Devoirgoil." 






Death of Hazlitt. 


"Demonol- 






Invention of life- 


ogy." 






boat. 


" History of 
Scotland." 








1831 


Journey to Italy. 


Death of John Ab- 


"Tales of a 






ernethy. 


Grand- 






Reform Bill reject- 


father," IV. 






ed by Lords. 








Reform riots. 








Cholera in Eng- 








land. 




1832 


Death at Abbotsford. 


Reform Bill 


"Tales of 




Burial at Dryburgh Abbey. 


passes. 


My Land- 
lord," IV. 
"Count Rob- 
ert of Paris." 
" Castle 








Dangerous." 



266 



■^' 



THE WAVERLEY NOVELS IN 
CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER 



Count Robert of Paris, 1090. 

The Betrothed, 1187. 

The Talisman, 1194. 

Ivanhoe, 1198. 

Castle Dangerous, 1306-7. 

Fair Maid of Perth, 1402. 

Quentin Durward, 1470. 

Anne of Geierstein, 1474. 

The Monastery, 1559. 

The Abbot, 1568. 

Kenilworth, 1575. 

The Laird's Jock, 1600. 

The Fortunes of Nigel, 1620. 

A Legend of Montrose, 1645. 

Woodstock, 1652. 

Peveril of the Peak, 1660. 

Old Mortality, 1679. 

The Pirate, 1700. 

My Aunt Margaret's Mirror, 

1700. 
The Bride of Lammermoor, 

1700. 
The Black Dwarf, 1708. 
Rob Roy, 1715. 



The Heart of Midlothian 

1736-1751. 
Waverley, 1745. 
The Highland Widow, 1755. 
The Surgeon's Daughter, 

1750-1770. 
Guy Mannering, 1750-1770. 
The Two Drovers, 1765. 
Redgauntlet, 1770. 
The Tapestried Chamber, 1780. 
The Antiquary, 1798. 
St. Ronan's Well, 1800. 



POEMS 

Harold the Dauntless (le- 
gendary). 
Don Roderick, 714. 
Lord of the Isles, 1307. 
Marmion, 1513. 
Lady of the Lake, 1528. 
Lay of Last Minstrel, 1550. 
Rokeby, 1644. 
Waterloo, 1815. 



267 



Appendix 

A BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY 

For Young Readers of Scott 

The Waverley Novels. Merely enumerating editions 
would be of no use. There is every form of these 
books, from cheap, pirated, paper-covered volumes 
to the most elaborate editions in special binding. If 
one is to buy a complete set, it is v^ise to select vol- 
umes of convenient size, so that they can be carried 
about. 
There are two especially portable. 

The Dent Edition, in forty-eight small (4 inches by 
6 inches) volumes, with notes, introduction, etc., 
and pictures by Herbert Railton besides portraits, and 
bibliographical notes by Clement K. Shorter. This 
is a handy, modern edition, printed on thin paper, 
and based upon the so-called ** Author's Favorite 
Edition," published in Edinburgh, 1834. ' 

The Nelson Edition, in the **New Century Library," 
printed on India paper; exceedingly compact, and 
portable; well illustrated; with the notes of the ** Fa- 
vorite Edition," and containing each novel in not 
more than a single volume. 

Scott* s Poems. Here, too, there is an endless choice, 
but the Globe Edition will be found entirely satis- 
factory at a reasonable price. Another single volume 
edition, with the author's introductions and notes, is 
edited by J. Logic Robertson, and published by the 
Oxford University Press. This contains the fullest 
information, but is not meant for school use, 

268 



Appendioo 

For schools there are published separate editions of sep- 
arate novels and poems, such as Ivanhoe, The 
Talisman f The Lady of the Lake^ Lord of the Isles , 
etc., and to these the notes are more detailed. 

Life of Sir Walter Scott. John Gibson Lockhart. 
There have been a number of editions of this, the 
standard Hfe of Scott, the first issued in seven vol- 
umes in Edinburgh, 1837-1838, and then in ten 
volumes in 1839, and 1845. This was abridged by 
the author, and appeared in one volume in Edinburgh, 
1 87 1 . Reprints of both of these have appeared from 
American presses. There is also an epitome of the 
biography, by Jenkinson. 

Life of Sir Walter Scott. William Henry Hudson. 
A full and critical study, arranged according to the 
periods of his life. 

Sir Walter Scott. James Hay. A short but v^ell 
composed biography, v^ritten w^ith independence of 
judgment. 

Sir Walter Scott. Richard H. Hutton. An excel- 
lent biography, published in the ** English Men of 
Letters" Series. 

Life of Sir Walter Scott. Charles Duke Yonge. 
One of the ^* Great Writers " Series. Particularly 
valuable for the exhaustive bibliographical tables, pre- 
pared by John P. Anderson of the British Museum. 
This bibliography is so complete that it serves as a 
guide to the w^hole literature relating to Scott or his 
Works, 

269 



Appendix 

The Journal of Sir Walter Scott. This begins in 
1825 and continues till his return from abroad in 
1832— just before his death. Invaluable for the in- 
timate view of Scott's life and character, and habits 
of mind. 

Sir Walter Scott, George Saintsbury. (Scots 
Series. ) 

The Ballyntyne Controversy. There are a number 
of books discussing the questions arising out of the 
failure of the publishing house, but they hardly con- 
cern younger readers. 

Essay on Scott, will be found in Carlyle's Works, 
and is in Cassell's National Library. 

Illustrations of the Author of Waverley. Robert 
Chambers. ** Notices of real characters and inci- 
dents described in his works." 

Life of Scott, in Encyclopaedia Brittanica, by Pro- 
fessor Minto, is full and excellent. 

Homes and Haunts of British Poets. William Howitt. 

Marjorie Fleming. Dr. John Brown. An indispen- 
sable sketch of Scott and his child friend. 

Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey. Washington 
Irving. 
There are numberless lives, notices, and essays that 

give various views of Scott. Among them may be 

noted those by Walter Bagehot, James Browne, Robert 

Chambers, Allan Cunningham, Edward Everett, 

George R. Gleig, William HazHtt, James Hogg, 

Andrew Lang, Donald G. Mitchell, and William H, 

Prescott, 

270 



INDEX 



"Abbot, The," i8o 

Abbotsford, 141, 142, 143, 178, 192, 205 

actors, friendship with, 133 

Adam, Alex., 33 

agriculture, 10 

American naval victories, 149 

ancestry, Scott's, 17, 19 

*'Anne of Geierstein," 216 

antagonism, Scotch and English, 14 

"Antiquary, The," 168 

apoplexy, 218 

Ashestiel, 123 

"As You Like It," 31 

Atlantic crossed by steamship, 176 

"Auld Wat," 19 

Baillie, Joanna, 128 

Ballantyne, James, 42, in, 136, 157, 216, 221 

John, 152, 177, 183 
Ballantynes, the, 130, 143, 149 
balloons, 56, 120 
Barbauld, Mrs., 80 
Bath, 30 

Belsches, Williamina (Stuart), 73^ 81, 84, 139 
Bentham, Jeremy, 186 
"Betrothed, The," 194 
Bible, 237, 238 

Bonaparte, 87, 108, 113, 128. (See also Napoleon.) 
"Bonnie Dundee," 204 
"Bounty," mutiny of the, 69 
Blair, Dr., 107 
"blanketeers," 172 
Blarney stone, 197 
"Bridal of Triermain," 146 
"Bride of Lammermoor," 249 

271 



Index 



Burns, Robert, 38, 53, 122 
Byron, Lord, 146, 156, 159-162, 231 

Camperdown, battle, 90 
Carlyle, 16, 248 
''Castle Dangerous,*' 217, 221 
Cato St. conspiracy, 181 
century, when it began, 106 _ 
cholera, 226 

''Chronicles of Canongate," 211 
"Chivalry" and "Drama" articles, 152 
"Chesapeake" and "Shannon," 148 
Clerk, William, 52, ^ 
Clerk of Sessions, 141 
coat of arms, no 
Coleridge, 127 
College Wynd. 20 
Constable, Z3, i54, 193, I94, 245 
Cornwallis, 109 
corn laws, 163, 172 
costume, 25, 71, 86 
cotton spinning, 58 
"Count Robert of Paris," 217, 219 
Cowgate Port, 45 
Cowper, 107, 122 
Crabbe, 238 
Craik, George, 247 
Sir Henry, 252 
criminal law, 185 
Crockett, W. S., 26, 39 
Cromwell, 210 

Dalgetty, 33 

Devonshire, Lord, 91 

drinking, 64 

Dry burgh Abbey, 240 

"Dryden, Life of," 131 

Drummond of Hawthornden, 98, 99 

Drury Lane Theatre, 170 

Duncan, Admiral, 89 

Dunnottar Church, 174 

dwellings, 10 

Edgeworth, Miss, 152, 196 
Ecigeworth§town, 196 

272 



Index 

Edinburgh, 17, 20, 43, 49, 121 

Edinburgh Review, 49 

"Eighteentji Century, The/* by Frederic Harrison, 60 

Electricity, 59 

Elgin marbles, 169 

Engaddi, 100 

England, Eighteenth Century, 9 

Erskine family, 240 

Erskine, William, 96, 146 

Events, 1811-1814, 147 

"Fair Maid of Perth," 212 
Farmhouse, 24 
Floors, castle, 40 
"Flower of Yarrow," 19 
Forbes, Sir William, 85 
Fiske, John, quoted, 148 
Fitzgerald on Scott, 251 
French aggressions, 87 
invasions, 85, 122 

"Gandercleugh," 95 
Gemmels, Andrew, 41 
genealogy, Scott, 18 
George IV. in Edinburgh, 184 
German literature, 80 
Gladstone on Scott, 249 
Goethe, translated, 95, 2^^ 
Graham, H. G., quoted, 25 
Greek revolution, 185 
*'Green Breeks," story of, 44 
Green, J. R., quoted, 115 
Goldsmith, 196 

habit of writing, Scott's, 124 
Hay, James, quoted, 92, 218 
Hall, Capt. Basil, 191 
"Harold," 169 

Harrison, Frederic, quoted, 60 
Hastings, Warren, 70 
Hebrides, voyage, 139 
Highland trip, 129-138 
Hogg, James, 132 
Home, author of "Douglas," 31 
"Horner, Gilpin," iii 
Howard, John, 58 

^73 



Index 



Howitt, W., quoted, 28 
Hudson, W. H., quoted, 52, 253 
"Hundred Davs," the, 164 

illuminating gas, 120 

immortality in literature, 254 

inventions, 11 

Irving, John, 46 

Irving, Washington, visits Scott, 173 

Italy, 234 

'Ivanhoe," 180 

Jacquard loom, 117 
Jacobite uprising, 7 
James, G. P. R., 222 
^ Jeffrey, Francis, 151 
Johnson, Dr., 138 

Kelso, 35, 39, 97 
Kemble, 132 
Knight, Charles, 246 

labor troubles, 172, 282 

labor unions, 186 

''Lady of the Lake," 134, 137 

Lakes, the, Scott visits, 197 

Lalande, astronomer, 107 

Lasswade, 95, 98 

law practice, Scott's, 75, 93 

*'Lay of Last Minstrel," iii, 121, 126 

Lewis, M. G., 96 

Leyden, Dr. John, 100, loi 

Liddesdale "raids," 75, "JJ 

lifeboat, first, 56 

lighthouses, voyage to, 153 

Lockhart, J. G., marries Sophia Scott, 182 

quoted, 66, 135, 152, 155, 157, 165, 175, 196, 197, 
203, 222. 22^, 229, 234, 244 
London, 30, 235 

"Lord of the Isles, ' 102, 151-155 
Louisiana Purchase, 121 
love, in Waverley Novels, 83 

Mabie, Hamilton, quoted, 253 
Macaulay, born, 107 
Mackenzie, Henry, 80 

274 



Index 



'^Maida," 209 

mail coach, tirst, 56 

''Malachi Malagrowther/' 210 

Malta, 226 

''Mannering, Guy," 155 

''Marmion," 27, 131 

mechanical inventions, 59 

metre, 127, 140, 145 

militia, Scott in, no 

^'Minstrelsy, Scottish Border," 97, 103 

''Monastery, The," 180 

Moore, Thomas, 198 • 

mottoes for Waverley Novels, 170 

"moving hand, the," 153 

Murray, John, 167, 168 

mutinies in navy, 89 

Napier, quoted, 100 

Naples, 228 

"Napoleon, Life of," 198, 209, 211 

Napoleon, 147, 148, 162, 184. (See also Bonaparte.) 

Nelson, Horatio, 89, 109 

"North, Christopher," 105 

"Ochiltree, Edie," 41 
"Old Mortality," 169, 174 
"Opus Magnum," Scott's, 212 

panic of 1825, 202 

paper making, 119 

Park, Mungo, 124, 125 

Parliament, House, 75 

"Paul's Letters to His Kinsfolk," 166 

Peel, Sir Robert, 185 

percussion lock, 122 

Percy's "Reliques," 41, 94 

"Peveril of the Peak," 187 

"Pirate, The," 154 

poems, Scott's first, 48 

poems, how published, 134, 167 

Scott's, 247 
Pompeii, 229 
portraits of Scott, 181 
Prestonpans, ^2 
Pretender, the, 70 

275 



Index 



Priestley, Dr., 69, 186 

Prince Regent, Scott dines with, 161 

Quarterly Review, 133 
**Queenhoo Hall," 131 
"Quentin Durward," 187 

Raikes, Robert, 61 

Ramsay, Allan, 26 

Reade, Chas., quoted, 190, 201 

''Redgauntlet,'' 42, 188 

Reform Bill, 223, 242 

regalia, Scotch, 174 

''Rejected Addresses," 170 

Revolution, French, 68, 79, 243 

Revolutionary Society, 68 

romanticism, 12 

Rhodes, 231 

^'Rokeby,'' 146 

Roman Catholicism, 241 

romantic school, 158 

Rome, 233 

Rosebank Cottage, 47 

Roxburgh Castle, 39 

ruin of Scott, 200 

Ruskin, 20 

on the Waverleys, 249 
Rutherford, Ann, 17 

Sandy Knowe, 23 

tower, 26 

views from, 28 

Ormistoun, Sandy, 29 
Scotch, the, 5 

Scotland in the Eighteenth Century, i, 2, 3 
Scotch intellect, 11 
Scott, Ann, 136 

Beardie, 19 

Lady, 19; death, 211 

Robert, 24, 29 

Thomas, 149 
Scott, Walter, Sir, 

sanity of, 16; ancestry, 17; genealogy, 18; early 

days, 20; birth, 22; first poem, 26) Bath, journey, 

30; autobiography, 30; pony, 32; visits Prestgn- 
276 



Index 



pans, 2^ ; school days, 2Z ', Kelso, at, 35, 42 ; lame- 
ness, 27) general knowledge, 38; meets James 
Ballantyne, 42 ; return to Edinburgh, 43 ; boyish 
fights, 45; learns Italian and Spanish, 46; walks, 
47; illness, 47; tries painting and music, 48; col- 
lects old ballads, 48; student at university, 49, 
52; love for antiquity, 51 ; meets Burns, 53; liter- 
ary societies, 63, 64; tavern suppers, 64; ram- 
blings, 65 ; industry, 66 ; notebooks, 6y ; first love 
affair, y^^ 74; at Parliament House, 75; Liddes- 
dale raids, 76, yy, 78; translates Lenore, 80; as 
cavalryman, 86; portrait, 86; visits the Lakes, 90; 
meets Miss Charpentier, 91 ; marriage, 91 ; dislike 
of law, 92; as lawyer, 93: appointed sheriff, 94; 
translates Goethe, 95 ; visits Kelso, 97 ; friendship 
for Leyden, loi ; as editor, 104 ; death of father, 
105; injured at drill, iii; completes Minstrelsy 
of Scottish Border, 121; begins Lay of Last 
Minstrel, 121; contributes to Edinburgh Re- 
view, 121; birth of son, Walter, 122; birth of 
daughter, Ann, 122; buys Ashestiel, 123; 
changes habit of writing, 124 ; meets Mungo Park, 
125; Lay of Last Minstrel published, 126; Clerk 
to Ct. of Sessions, 126; his interest in Napo- 
leon's wars, 129; friendship with Kemble, Sid- 
dons, etc., 132; various activities, 133; 
opinion of his own work, 138; trip to 
Highlands, 138; writes Vision Don Roderick, 
140; salary as Clerk of Sessions, 141; buys Ab- 
botsford, 141, 142; moves to Abbotsford, 144; 
Rokeby, writing of, 145 ; rivalry with Byron, 146 ; 
his work at Abbotsford, 149; declines laureate- 
ship, 150; writes Waverley, 152, 153; articles 
for Britannica, 152; journey in lighthouse tender, 
153, 154; aided by Jos. Train, 155; ''Guy Man- 
nerin?." 156; his busiest days, 159; trip to Lon- 
don, 161 ; dines with Regent, 161 ; meetings with 
Byron, 161 ; returns to Scotland, 163 ; in Paris 
after Waterloo, 164; journey home, 166; writes 
"Field of Waterloo," 166 ; buys land, 167 ; writes 
Antiquary, Black Dwarf, Old Mortality, 168; 
visited by W. Irving, 173; at finding of regalia, 
174; time of prosperity, 175; at home, 177, 178; 
baronetcy, the, 179; writes Ivanhoe, Monastery 
and Abbot, 180; illness, 181; portraits of, 181 i 

277 



Index 



Kenilworth, Fortunes of Nigel, 182; Lock- 
hart marries Sophia, 182; Pirate, 182; trip to 
London, 183; describes coronation George IV., 
183; George IV. visits Edinburgh, 184; build- 
ing at Abbotsford, 184; sympathy with the 
poor, 186; writes Peveril of the Peak, Quentin 
Durward and St. Ronan's Well, 187; Abbotsford 
finished, 187; Redgauntlet, 188; prose works, 
188; as a woodcutter, 188; son's wedding, 191; 
expenditures, 193; The Betrothed, 194; Talis- 
man, 194; visits Ireland, 195; visits Words- 
worth and Southey, 197; writing Life of 
Napoleon, 198; visit from Thomas Moore, 
198; tact of, Mrs. Coutts' visit, 199; the 
speculative period, 201 ; ruin of, 203 ; diary 
begun, 203; story of his ruin, 204; writes "Bon- 
nie Dundee,'' 204; amount of his debts, 205; 
Abbotsford, conveyance of, 205; arranges with 
creditors, 207; writes Woodstock, 209; Letters 
of Malachi Malagrowther, 210; Chron. of Can- 
ongate, 211; Fair Maid of Perth, 212; Tales of 
Grandfather, 212; working hours, 214; Anne of 
Geierstein, 216; illness, 218; ill-treatment at elec- 
tion, 220; Castle Dangerous, 222; last "raid,*' 
222; visits from James and Turner, 222; goes 
abroad, 22y, his last writings, 226-230; return to 
Abbotsford, 237; death, 239; burial, 240; repre- 
sentatives, 241. 
Walter, Jr., 136, 222^ 

Scribner's Magazine, quoted, 153 

Shakespeare, 31, 248 

Sheridan, R. B., 169 

Shorter, Clement, quoted, 195, 216 

Siddons, Mrs., 132 

Smith, Adam, (i2 

speculative period, 190 

Speculative Society, 63 

societies, literary, 63 

Southey, 79, 150, 197 

steamboats, 120 

steel engraving, 176 

Stevenson, Robert L, 153 

story of lighthouse trip, 153 

"St. Ronan's Well," 187, 217 

Struthers, helped by Scott, 132 



278 



Index 



Strutt, 131 

Stuart, Williamina, y^- (See Belsches.) 

St. Vincent, battle, 89 

Swift, edition of, 131, 151 

Sunday-schools, 61 

"Talisman, The," 100, 194 

Tasso, 41, 46 

toryism, Scott's, 244 

trade, 10 

Trafalgar, battle, 129 

Train, Joseph, 155 

travel into Scotland, 135 

traveling, 22 

Turner, J. M. W., 222 

union with Ireland, 13, 107 
useful arts, improvement in, 118 

velocipede, 176 
versatility, Scott's, 133 
Victoria, born, 176 
Vinegar Hill, battle, 109 
"Vision of Don Roderick," 140 
volcanic island, 226 
voltaic pile, 117 

War of 1812, 148 
Waterloo, 164 
"Waterloo, Field of," 166 
Watt, James, 57, 120, 176 
"Waverley," 128, 139, 151, 154 

authorship, 105 
"Wealth of Nations," 62 
Wellington, Duke of, 147, 165, 166, 208 
West, Benjamin, 181 
Whale, Lancelot, 36 
Willis, Dr., 58 
"Woodstock," 209 
Wordsworth, William, 79, 197, 223 
"Yarrow Revisited," 22^ 



279 



APR 2 1906 



